Irish Squad Touch Down to Warm Welcome in Adelaide
Just as they had experienced three weeks ago on arrival in Sydney, the Irish squad created another stir at Adelaide Airport, greeted by a large hoard of green jersyed Irish supporters.
It was a case of change of scenery bringing a sharp contrast in weather as Ireland’s World Cup squad moved south to Adelaide today to prepare for their third Pool A qualifying game against Argentina on Sunday.
From the seaside haven of Terrigal, where all rooms enjoyed a full frontal of the Pacific Ocean, the new abode stands in stark contrast, downtown Adelaide, albeit a pleasant city of around 1 million population most famous for its arts culture and the surrounding hills carpeted with some of Australia’s finest vineyards.
Just as they had experienced three weeks ago on arrival in Sydney, the Irish squad created another stir at Adelaide Airport, the large numbers of green
jerseyed Irish supporters and posse ofjournalists and
photographers again making a bold statement as to the popularity of the Irish team.
Not losing any time in the build up to Sunday’s sell-out game at the famous Adelaide Oval, coach Eddie O’Sullivan and manager Brian O’Brien ordered a 20 minutes turn-around on arrival at the plush Hilton Hotel – and it was back on the bus and out to training at the Port Adelaide Aussie rules
football club.
Starkly contrasting with training conditions in Terrigal on Monday when the temperature soared to 30 degrees, it was a chilly 17 degrees that greeted the Irish today.
However, the gloom was lifted as prop forward Reggie Corrigan provided a boost on the injury front by returning to the fray, having had to pull out of last Sunday’s game against Namibia. His shoulder injury has fully
recovered and he will be back in the hat for selection when the team is announced tomorrow (Wednesday).
Sitting out again were Anthony Foley (knee) and Gary Longwell (calf), although both continue to work independently with the medical staff and hope to resume with the squad in a day or two.