THE path to professionalism is laden with gold? Well, not quite, and certainly not for these Irish tourists. The IRFU may not have cut any expenses in funding the £300,000-plus tour, but they're putting little of it the players' way. A set fee of £2,000 for the five-week, seven-game tour was the original offer to the squad members, which has been upped to £3,000 for the internationals amongst the squad - only nine of the original 32.
Furthermore, they get no expenses whatsoever, not a shilling toward the old amateur "communications" allowance or a penny toward their laundry bills - a miserly move by the IRFU.
Phone calls home have been curtailed, therefore, and although most of the team's laundry is "official" Nike gear, individual hotel bills have mounted up to NZ$40 or NZ$50 (£15-£20).
More to the point, one non-capped player in the squad has had to pay a replacement worker £600 per week to fill in for him in his absence, which effectively means he will be out of pocket over the five weeks. Unless he picks up two of the remaining three £500 bonuses for beating the NZ Academy, Maoris or Western Samoa. There have not been too many new wallets bought on this tour.
TAUPO, situated beside New Zealand's largest lake (616 sq km) of the same name, typifies the outdoors way of life of the Kiwi; offering trout fishing, boating, a host of water sports, bush trekking, golf, skiing, parkland, waterfalls, bungie jumping, etc.
The squad's fishing expedition on Lake Taupo yesterday ranked as one of the best day trips thus far. Even though only two trout were caught, both on the "management's" boat, the two boats came together for a barbecue which was not quite a loaves and fishes job; the real fishermen on the morning run supplemented the affair by keeping six of their catch.
An interlude for some clay pigeon shooting caused much merriment when the team's laid-back kit man, Paddy "Rala" O'Reilly, remained transfixed and unable to pull the trigger at the first command of "pull". On the second, his finger remained paralysed until the pigeon had gone under water. This innovative example of depth charge fishing may explain the ensuing trout catch.
THE Oasis and adjoining Manuels Beach resorts have been popular spots for some mid-tour R & R. The Lions and South Africans have also stayed here, the French are due here and the All Blacks have based camp here twice.
As part of their off-pitch esprit de corps, the All Blacks had a compulsory afternoon's bungie jumping above the nearby Waikato River at the aptly named Hell's Gate. Even Zinzan Brooke needed 20 minutes' persuasion. But the real short straw was for the player chosen to jump from a helicopter. The winner/loser was John Timu. Any wonder he went to rugby league?
Pat Whelan may have a reputation as a bit of a taskmaster, but thus far bungie jumping has been optional for the touring Irish. There has been much talk, but no action so far, with some contenting themselves with a round of golf.
THE stadium for today's game against King Country, the Owen Delany Park, is named after a 77-year-old Kiwi of Cork extraction, a retired railway worker who has devoted much of his life to the development of sport in the area
WERE one to peer bleary-eyed out of the Irish team's base, wherever that may be in whatever week, it is possible to see the Irish backroom team heading off for their daily run around 7.30 a.m. Hardly a day has been missed, and though Pat Whelan trailed in last, to the amusement of the players in front of the dining-room at breakfast time, the former Irish hooker points out that he has trained more regularly on this tour than at any time in his playing career. With the net result that he has lost 9lb.
