There was one way of interpreting Ireland's squad session at London Irish yesterday as an encouraging portent for Saturday's meeting with Italy in Bologna. Namely, that a bad dress rehearsal makes for a good performance.

If the truth be told, it was a distinctly non-vintage session. About a dozen or more balls were dropped on the snow-capped Sunbury main pitch - prompting the notion that however much it looked like a Christmas postcard, it should be renamed Snowbury this week - although after a particularly sluggish start it did pick up a bit at the behest of a voluble and prominent Keith Wood, and Brian Ashton.

Conditions were a mitigating factor. "The pressure inside the ball increases in the cold and the ball was like a brick," said Ashton.

"There was just no feel in it at all and added to that when you get snow on it, it doesn't help."

Ireland have had better sessions? "Yeah, and much worse, too, in conditions like that. Given the standard we set ourselves now and the standards we reached yesterday (Tuesday) afternoon, that wasn't quite up to the mark. It got better, but that was after I told them that the clock had stopped, and the session hadn't started. There's no way they can do that on Saturday afternoon."

Hence, the afternoon session was extended slightly longer than planned to about 90 minutes, it being the last work-out before Saturday's game. "We've done everything that we set out to do and I still feel very strongly about the importance of physical rest and mental preparation over the last 48 hours before a game."

When it snows in Sunbury, it snows, as Conor O'Shea might be inclined to observe. Though playing some of the best rugby of his career, O'Shea hasn't enjoyed the luckiest of representative seasons and in keeping with that trend he has been replaced on the replacements' bench for the game against Italy in Bologna on Sunday.

This is the delayed knock-on effect of Rob Henderson's injury, for with Kevin Maggs moving inside to centre, there was no midfield cover. Hence, Jonathan Bell, after two outings in the Northampton seconds and a first senior outing since August is deemed fit enough to be called into the replacements' bench.

Describing it as "a common sense" move, Brian Ashton said: "I felt it was important that Jonathan Bell could cover centre and wing and in fact played at fullback for Northampton on Sunday.

"Conor took it as a professional rugby player will. He understood the logic behind it. I'm very pleased that he stuck with it and trained with us for the last two days. He was given the option of coming to Italy but decided not to."

Ashton himself is clearly looking forward to revisiting Italy, where he cut his coaching teeth with first, Milan, and then Rome from 1976 to 1979.

Ashton regards the Italians as innately talented, citing their abilities at football and basketball as evidence of them being "a skilful and ball-playing nation" and has always felt that Italy's evolution as a European power was "just a question of getting their focus right, because it was a game so far down the pecking order".

"I know it's going to be a very difficult game. If you mention Italy at the top level of rugby to people, those who are not in very, very close contact with the game would probably wonder what you are talking about."

Ashton points to the Italians' recent results against teams in the Five Nations, most notably their defeat of last season's French Grand Slammers. "Obviously, at home they're not a side to be taken lightly."

Added to which was their 31point haul against South Africa in October, admittedly while conceding over double that amount, when they were 24-22 down with ten minutes to go "against a Springboks team which subsequently took England and Scotland apart."

Alas, the Irish coaching staff have not been able to locate any videos of the Italians' Latin Cup games or the meeting with South Africa although as Ashton said they have a "very settled team" with many players known to Ireland from the Italians' wins in Treviso two years ago and Dublin last year. For the moment, they've selected a large squad and don't intend finalising their starting line-up until tomorrow.

It's an important game at this `developmental stage' of the Irish team, but then so or they all, and Ashton describes the notion of it as some sort of make-or-break game as "ludicrous".

That said, "it would be terrific if we could win the game, there's no doubt about it. Obviously that's our primary aim and I think it could give us some sort of benchmark as to where we're up to; far more than the Canadian game or the All Blacks' game, because we're probably playing a side that has been competing at the sort of level we can compete at. Or probably slightly higher to be honest in terms of results."

Ominously, the Irish coach draws on his experience of three winters in Milan to forecast more of the same. "In one winter in Milan, for about six weeks the bloody snow never went." It couldn't, could it?