If they weren't thumping the flower of Irish manhood into the turf at Lansdowne Road, they were leppin' around the stage of Dublin's SFX theatre for an extraordinary length of time. The Aussies were in town, and whether it was a Garryowen or a grand jete, they were looking good.
The other Australian event in the capital at the weekend was the mammoth five-hour play Cloud street, which deserves the term "phenomenon". This dramatisation of West Australian writer Tim Winton's novel has had staggeringly good reviews wherever it has played since its launch at the Sydney Arts Festival last year.
Members of the cast said they had been looking forward to their brief Dublin season, not only because it marks the end of their four-month world tour, but because they expected a warm reception.
"We were looking forward to the looks on the faces in Dublin," says Max Cullen, who plays Sam Pickles in the show. Those looks were of elation on Saturday night around 10 p.m., when the full house gave the 14-member ensemble a standing ovation after the five-hour performance.
Director and author Mary Elizabeth Burke-Kennedy was dazzled. "It's the best thing I've ever seen at a theatre festival." Theatregoers echoed the sentiment. `I'm enjoying every moment of it," said Ms Mary Cole, of Monkstown, Co Dublin, during the second interval. "I don't want it to end."
It opened here, for a five-date Eircom Theatre Festival season, on Friday night. Afterwards a high-powered party hosted by the Australian ambassador, Mr Bob Halverson, sung the praises of an extraordinary marathon.
Mr Halverson, a former Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives, showed his political pedigree with a fine (and short) speech of praise. He confessed to not being a great man for the theatre - "especially not for five hours" - but that Cloudstreet had kept him fascinated and often moved.
The Australian history professor at UCD, Dr Judith Brett, and her fellow academic husband, Dr Graeme Smith, were there, as were a number of diplomats and pillars of the Irish-Australian community. Ms Christine Monk, an Aussie resident in Dublin, said she was speechless with the power of the play. "I felt what I imagine is something like how many Irish people would have felt on seeing The Commitments - very moved, and very proud."
The cast features many veterans of Australian stage and screen, including Judi Farr, Max Cullen, and Kris McQuade, whose credits include the brilliant Boys from the Bush television series.