Frawley and Nash taking pressure in their stride

Andy Farrell has spoken before of the need for players to find their feet from the moment they arrive in camp.

SAME GAME DIFFERENT JERSEY: Ciaran Frawley and Calvin Nash will be vying for a place on the plane to France for the World Cup. Pic: ©INPHO/Ben Brady

Time will tell how far Ciaran Frawley and Calvin Nash’s World Cup ambitions have taken them but they are entitled even now, in the midst of the journey, to look back and appreciate the distance travelled just to make it this far.

Their provincial loyalties are split between blue and red but they made up two-thirds of the Ireland players making their Test debuts on Saturday – Tom Stewart being the other – and the occasion made for a cocktail of the new and the familiar.