Ireland arrive in France:Only when landing does it feel like the World Cup is taking off, so to speak, and the Irish squad slipped into France almost surreptitiously in Bordeaux airport at tea-time yesterday as one of the last of the 20 participating countries, scarcely 50 hours ahead of the tournament kicking off.
About 25 children from a local rugby club in le Bouscat, the nearby suburb where Ireland will train at the Stade Saint Germaine before the team to play Namibia is announced around lunchtime, presented them with a plaque simply inscribed with the word "bienvenue". Also in attendance were a delegation from the Comité de Côte d'Argent et Landes and the local organising committee, along with a dozen or so supporters and a posse of television crews, photographers and journalists, French and Irish.
Brian O'Driscoll was in noticeably good form, though he did became a tad agitated when repeatedly asked by a French TV reporter about the fall-out from his run-in with Bayonne's Mikaera Tewhata.
Having confirmed Tewhata (reported in French media to have been tearful) had telephoned the Irish captain to apologise for the punch that gave him a broken sinus, O'Driscoll reiterated the contents of the conversation would remain private and implored his interviewer to ask him about rugby matters.
Several of the Irish squad, sporting tailormade navy suits from Kennedy & McSharry, pink shirts, matching striped ties and brown shoes, happily donned red berets for the benefit of photographers. They arrived to clear blue skies and temperatures in the mid-20s, which are set to rise amid more of the same for the rest of the week.
"You only get the taste for a World Cup when you actually land in the country it's in," said O'Driscoll. "You do get a few goose bumps and it's just now that you can really start looking forward to it. It's on us and I guess the game will be on us like that."
O'Driscoll has particularly good memories of World Cups in this country, having been on the Ireland team that won the 1998 under-19 World Cup in France, and his excitement at finally arriving here was palpable.
"It's not until you get here that the enormousness of it really hits home," he said.
"Once you've been in the country a few days and looking at it on TV you'll see the excitement generate and then the first game will be on us. So very much looking forward to it kicking off and glad we're finally here."
As for his own prospects of leading Ireland out in their opening match on Sunday, O'Driscoll smiled broadly and nodded deferentially toward coach Eddie O'Sullivan when saying modestly, "I'm available for selection if picked.
"Sunday is a big game for us because it's an opportunity to set out our stall," he added. "Granted we're playing against opposition that we would expect to beat but I think the performance is going to be crucial to us as well in terms of showing what we're here to do."
With David Wallace also recovered from his ankle strain, the only player in the 30-man squad who will not be considered for the opening game is Shane Horgan, and it looks as if the unimpressive nature of Ireland's warm-up games coupled with the innate instinct to play his best team will see O'Sullivan name something close to his strongest line-up, despite previously talking of mixing and matching his squad over the opening two games.
"Every pool is different and in our pool we've got two games which probably give us a chance to bed in before we hit the big one against France, but at the same time we've got to get off the ground on Sunday with a good performance against Namibia.
"It's their first game of the tournament and they're going to be very fired up for it. They're a big physical side so the expectations are that it's going to be a hard day to start with.
"We trained pretty well in the last couple of days. We want to hit the ground running here now and get on with it.
"It's a match week for us. Today's our down day and we've two more days' training before we play so it's really about getting our heads on and getting on with the business."
O'Sullivan admitted he was glad to finally be in France: "Very much so. There's been a lot of waiting, speculation and talking; it's now time to come here and play rugby.
"I think the lads are pretty fed up talking about it . . . We've been talking about it for months and speculating about it, and they're all very keen just to get out and get on with it. As Brian said, once you hit the ground it's a great pick-me-up. Fellas now have their headsets on to play rugby."
Carney takes photocall . . . Gerry Thornley in Bordeaux
Adorning the lower half of page eight in yesterday's L'Équipe is a picture the newspaper describes as "beautiful, yet at the same time an odd family photograph".
Conspicuous by their absence from the photo of the captains who gathered in the French capital to sign a piece of sculpture by Jean-Pierre Rives are Brian O'Driscoll and Italy's Marco Bortolami.
O'Driscoll declined the invitation, and in his place, looking conspicuous by his presence, is a replacement, the Munster wing Brian Carney.
Bortolami's excuse was that his plane from Rome was delayed. The 18 captains and Carney were photographed at the Musée du quai Branly, with the Eiffel Tower in the background, for the unveiling of Rives's work, which celebrates the heritage of the World Cup.
Phil Vickery and Gareth Thomas look a little out of sync, in rugby jersey and training top respectively. The Samoa and Tonga captains wear traditional shirts, the rest suits and ties.
