When Michael Parkinson once asked Dudley Moore and Peter Cook if their double act was akin to a marriage, Cook retorted: "Yes, and we're getting a divorce."

While Brian Ashton and Pat Whelan have reputedly kissed and made up after hints of at least a trial separation, the honeymoon period for the Irish coach is most definitely over. That's the way of things in sport. Another year older and a deeper in debt may not apply literally to Ashton, with five years left of a lucrative, six-year contract, but certainly the signs of strain are beginning to show.

Certainly his interviews seem less chatty and his responses often more cryptic than they used to be. So, when asked after yesterday's session at the Limerick NCTC if he was enjoying the job as much as he was a year ago, his answer seemed deliberately intriguing: "Yeah, I've found out a lot more about it now, so I'm almost certain to be, amn't I?"

While Ashton is still the equivalent of no more than a couple of months in the job in club terms, the expectations of a public who have suffered notoriously from delusions of grandeur have undoubtedly increased.

"I don't feel it but I am aware of it," admitted Ashton. Under pressure? "No, not really. The pressure on me is to make sure we can go out and play as we know we can. And we ain't done that so far. We've just done it in odd flashes in games.

"There's a lot of pressure to win in every international game. These are important, the first games, because if you get off to a win people tell me it makes life a bit easier afterward. But, never having been in that position," he added laconically, "I wouldn't know."

Realism remains, though tempered with humour. Asked if he had a target for this season's Five Nations, he responded: "I suppose winning the Triple Crown would be." Then he quipped: "Are you going to write that down?"

Adopting a more contemplative mode, he commented: "I said two wins, for us, the way things are at the moment, would be a pretty competent Five Nations I think." An away double over England and France, naturally.

On the face of it, the Scots at Lansdowne Road would surely be the one Ireland would have chosen, as on current form it affords them the best chance of a winning start. "That sort of thing doesn't bother me, to be perfectly honest," said Ashton, before acknowledging, "it's nice to start at Lansdowne Road."

While the long-term objectives remain, of playing a game of continuity through the hands and at pace, there's been more talk of "winning" than prior to any other game.

"If we play to our potential we've an opportunity of winning the game, and I'll stick by that. We're going to go into it very positively I think. The main objective is to win the game."

Little or nothing about the make-up of the Scottish side which was announced yesterday surprised Ashton, including the change in captaincy from Rob Wainwright to Gary Armstrong. "It was almost public knowledge last week that there was going to be a new skipper. It's probably the side that we would have expected with Cronin back in the second-row."

A stronger Scottish side than the one which played in Italy? "It's a different side, that's for sure," he responded cryptically. "We've literally just got it so we'd have to sit down and have a look at it."

Paul Wallace completed a full day's work save for some contact work as a purely "precautionary" measure. Angus Mckeen was called up to cover for Wallace, while Mick Lynch was the only other addition to the 22-man squad. But here again, the minor knock to Kevin Maggs is of no concern to the management.

Eddie Halvey, however, has unsurprisingly paid the penalty for being obliged to play a full 80 minutes for Shannon against Ballymena last Saturday. His troublesome ankle strain has forced his withdrawal from the `A' side to play Scotland at Donnybrook on Friday. In hindsight, neither the player nor the club did him any favours on Saturday, though ironically his replacement is team-mate Alan Quinlan.

The IRFU president, Niall Brophy, will officially switch on the new lights at Donnybrook prior to Friday's A international. The illumination takes place at 4.15 p.m., 45 minutes prior to kickoff.