Snow puts the kibosh on our rugby heroes’ homecoming
THE Irish rugby team’s homecoming celebrations at the Aviva Stadium were cancelled due to the wintry weather, but they still got a hero’s welcome when they arrived back in Dublin yesterday.
While the weather froze fans out of the planned main event – which won’t be rescheduled – the Grand Slam champions held court with a select band of journalists, fans and dignitaries at the Shelbourne Hotel yesterday afternoon.
However, the show had to go on – and Sports Minister Shane Ross was more than happy to welcome the rugby legends home.
Bundee Aki got a very special welcome from his daughter who had waited patiently for the team to arrive from Dublin Airport.
The little girl took centre stage, crying out ‘Daddy, Daddy’ as Aki walked through the doors.
Young gun Joey Carbery, meanwhile, told waiting reporters that the team were taking in the victory little by little.
Joe Schmidt’s all- conquering squad were due to arrive at the Aviva Stadium yesterday at 4.30pm to parade their silverware, but the homecoming fell foul of the adverse weather conditions.
‘On behalf of the squad, we are incredibly disappointed that we can’t get the opportunity to say thank you to those people who supported us,’ Schmidt told RTÉ Radio 1’s Marian Finucane Show yesterday.
Some 30,000 tickets were downloaded by fans for the homecoming for the Six Nations heroes.