The Irish squad said a cheery bonjour to around 12,000 mostly French supporters at their base in Tours despite being unable to conduct an open training session at the Stade de la Vallée du Che due to a fungus which left the pitch not so much unusable as dangerous.
Joe Schmidt would not have been amused but rather than disappointment their adopted public on the eve of France 2023, Andy Farrell was relatively sanguine. So instead of going through a warm-up at their state-of-the-art base in the Stade de la Chambrerie and then train at the Le stade de la Vallée du Cher, they reversed their schedule so as to fulfil their good-humoured 45 minutes of “interaction” with the public.
Despite some holes being filled with sand, this entailed some keepy-uppies, walk through, a squad photo, some Icelandic clapping with the crowd and some version of beach volleyball with a giant ball. The World Cup first-timers, of which there are 18, appeared to be having a particularly good time.
“It was incredible,” said Johnny Sexton of the reception. “Since we arrived in Tours, it has been unbelievable how they’ve set up the hotel, how they’ve looked after us. We’re very happy to be here.
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“No, I didn’t expect the atmosphere to be like that,” he admitted. “We heard there were a lot of people coming but sometimes there can be a lot of people and not a lot of atmosphere, so fair play to the people of Tours. We really appreciate it.
“When you turn up to something like this, it really hits home how big a deal it is. Not that it was lost on us before but it really hits home on days like this.”
Sexton also stressed that their training facilities are “really, really top-class, which is most important. The hotel being good with good food, etc., everything has been done for us. No excuses now.”
Andy Farrell endorsed his captain’s thinking when declaring: “It’s fantastic. There’s a lot of work that goes into it. Two years in the planning, it starts off on a recce and you’ve got to make a choice.
“By far and away, we felt as a management that the city of Tours wanted us to be here. But when somebody wants you and they prove that with their actions, then the relationships build.
“We’re delighted how we’ve been treated so far from the people of Tours, the hotel, etc. It’s a nice start getting into the country and also this is what World Cups are all about, making sure you understand what it’s all about on the ground and understanding the people.”
Viewed in that light it was important that the management and squad went ahead with their obligations to meet the public, if not with an open session.
Noting how different a World Cup is from a Six Nations, the Irish head coach added: “It’s the people of Tours that have been over to Dublin, the relationship with the Irish is top-class now and hopefully it will be a continued place for Irish people to come and visit in the future as well.”
Farrell also gave a relatively positive update on Dan Sheehan, if not providing a timeline on his return. “He’s back running well ahead of schedule. It all starts off on an alterG (antigravity treadmill) to see whether than can cope with running etc and he was back running last week. He was flying along yesterday with the physios so he’s certainly bullish within himself and so are the medics as well.”
Of the other injured trio, Farrell said: “Jack [Conan] trained yesterday, and again like any stage in rehab, it always depends on how he back it up the next day etc, so we’ll see how it goes today. Ronan [Kelleher] was fit last week so he’s certainly fit to go. He did a full session yesterday so he’ll back that up again today. Dave Kilcoyne is exactly the same as Ronan, fit and well.”
