RUGBY: The Irish management have decided not to press ahead with a fixture which had been pencilled in for next Friday in Lansdowne Road and would have featured an Irish side under the guise of a President's XV against opponents loosely described as a Combined Provinces under-25 side.
In the light of Munster and Ulster having byes next weekend from the first round of the Celtic Cup, the management had kept their options open with the possibility of the match, but having weighed up their options they have decided it's not necessary.
Perhaps the untimely injury to Geordan Murphy in Murrayfield was a reminder of the risks involved, and perhaps were John Hayes, John Kelly and Jonathon Bell closer to match fitness the risk might have been deemed worth it given their need for games.
Hayes, in particular, has only had 40 minutes of rugby since the Grand Slam decider in March, and that was in a pre-season friendly for Munster against Rotherham, due first to groin and more recently calf problems. But Hayes is highly satisfied with his rate of recovery and has no doubts as to his readiness for the World Cup.
In any event, the squad returns from their warm weather training camp in Bilbao this week, and apart from one or two cases it is unlikely that any of the World Cup squad will be made available to their provinces for the full round of Celtic League matches the weekend after next.
The squad comes together on Sunday, September 21st, for a final week's training prior to a farewell, fund-raising dinner in Jury's Hotel on Thursday 25th.
The squad then reassembles in Dublin Airport for their departure to Sydney and their base in Terrigal, via Singapore, on Monday, September 29th.
Ireland kick-off their campaign against Romania in Gosford, outside Sydney, on Saturday, October 11th (kick-off 10.30 a.m. Irish time), and they remain in Terrigal for their second game, against Namibia on Sunday, October 19th (kick-off 10.30 a.m. Irish time).
From there they move on to Adelaide for the pivotal meeting with Argentina on Sunday, October 26th, and then transfer to Melbourne the next day for their final pool game against the hosts and holders Australia on Saturday, November 1st (kick-off 9.30 a.m. Irish time).
Coach Eddie O'Sullivan expressed himself happy with the warm-weather camp in Bilbao, which provided the conditions which he had been looking for.
"It was a good week, very fruitful, with very good weather and we got lots of good work done."
One small hiccup developed during the week, however, when Castres, who have signed Justin Fitzpatrick from Ulster, refused to release the 26-time capped prop when the Irish management called him up as a stand-in for Hayes, one of the quartet who had remained at home to continue his rehabilitation from injury.
Despite a series of phone calls and faxes involving not only the IRFU and Castres, but also the French Federation and the International Board, the French club refused to back down because they had a cup match on Friday night. So Ireland were obliged to complete their week's training with only three props.
Nevertheless, the squad's baggage master, Patrick O'Reilly, widely known as "Rala", had travelled over in advance with the squad's masseur, Shaun Gilmore, with a scrummaging machine, and O'Sullivan maintained that Fitzpatrick's absence was thus not disruptive.
"It wasn't ideal but we were still able to get through full scrummaging sessions," said the Irish coach.
