IRELAND’S BEACH LIFE

LOCAL media are slightly perplexed by Ireland’s low-key arrival in Australia and so far the public utterances from the camp have been limited to one press release featuring three-day-old news and a couple of videos on the IRFU’s social media channels.

Having repaired to the Gold Coast to recover from the long journey, the players did a walk-through and gym session at the local Bond University on Sunday and were given yesterday off to try some jet-skiing, play a round of golf or just lounge at the beach.

Although manager Paul Dean played a didgeridoo at the airport, the tourists have yet to hold any sort of arrival press conference with the players enjoying the beach life at Surfers Paradise while catching up on some much-needed sleep.

Australia are keen to promote Saturday’s game and have had two press conferences already this week, putting forward big names like Israel Folau and Will Genia, while Ireland will break their silence today.

“We’re simply just getting the travel out of us from the last couple of days,” strength and conditioning guru Jason Cowman said.

“We try and strategise around it, you travel through nine time-zones so time is the most important factor. By the middle of the week they should all have recovered.”

According to the union, the entire squad is expected to train today.