Irish camp 'sheriffs' force Tadhg Beirne into donning full suit 

Tadhg Beirne actually accepted his punishment with good grace

DRESSED TO THE NINES: Tadhg Beirne poses for a portrait. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

Tadhg Beirne has lifted the lid on a “dictatorship” within the Ireland World Cup camp and hinted about a new French Revolution.

Thankfully for Irish supporters hoping for a smooth passage out of Pool B and into the knockout rounds here in France, the back-five forward’s displeasure was good-humoured as he explained why he was wearing his official Ireland suit with crisp white shirt and green tie, known as “number ones”, into and out of training at Stade de la Chambrerie yesterday.

“There’s a bit of a dictatorship going on in camp at the moment,” Beirne said as he conducted his media conference dressed to the nines. “We have three lads that call themselves the sheriffs, they’re in charge of any misdemeanours or any fines that need to be taking place within the camp.

“Unfortunately I turned up a couple of seconds late for a meeting and they decided to fine me. I had to spin the wheel of fortune and I landed on number ones to and from training, hence the suit.

“But, it fell on me today so everyone gets to see me in a nice suit, so how bad?” 

Beirne actually accepted his punishment with good grace, adding: “Yeah, it was a couple of seconds all right. There’s a cut-off time and if you’re late, you’re late which is fair enough.

“I’m not the only one who’s spun but you get to see what one of the punishments is.” 

Asked what the other punishments on the Ireland squad’s wheel of fortune were, the Munster star said: “I don’t know if I’m at liberty to say to be honest with you. There’s a few.

“One of the worst ones is I think there’s a silent one-minute dance which is actually probably punishment for everyone sitting in the room as well as it is for the man who has to do it.

“There’s a wheel back in the camp they have all different punishments on it. So it could land on whatever.” 

Beirne cheerfully exposed the so-called sheriffs with a warning to the Ireland squad’s unelected junta.

“James Ryan, Jack Conan and Dave Kilcoyne. The reason it’s a dictatorship is because they are claiming they’re above the law. So there could be a French Revolution yet.

“The power’s definitely going to their heads, particularly Dave Kilcoyne. He’s enjoying it a bit too much for people’s liking I think.”