Ireland Train In Kobe On Team Announcement Day

The Ireland squad trained at the home of the Kobelco Steelers in Kobe today, with the host team providing opposition. Hear from Joe Schmdit and Steelers head coach Dave Dillon about the session – click here.

There was also a chance to meet some local schoolchildren after the training session, with Ireland head coach Schmidt explaining: “We had a group of Japanese schoolchildren at training today – we trained with the Kobe Steelers, who were superb – and everyone’s got a spring in their step.

“(The Kobe players) were brilliant, absolutely brilliant. We regularly train against the (Ireland) Under-20s so it was a relatively young Kobe side. They didn’t have some of their big overseas stars there like Dan Carter, but the energy they brought – and not only that, but they counter-rucked us a couple of times and gave us a good old bashing.

“It just reminds us that we’ve got to be big enough to look after our own ball. It was an ideal hit-out for us. Sometimes energy is contagious in a training like that and they brought plenty with them.”