No escaping politics as Irish land in S Africa

The Irish squad arrived safe and sound on a sunny, hazy Indian summer's morning in Cape Town yesterday, albeit a little worse for wear after their overnight flight from London. Jetlagged and giddy, they gave a light-hearted press conference, shook off some of the cobwebs in an error-strewn afternoon workout and went to bed early.

On arrival, the emblazered management and entire squad were whisked into a reception room for a press conference; Cape Town making much of this being the first international touring party to kick-start its itinerary in this city.

The SARFU were eminently glad to see the Irish as well, and the attendant Springbok manager, Arthob Petersen, gave an impassioned welcome to the tourists following "a prickly period" in South African rugby when he thanked them profusely for showing "faith and confidence in us."

It was an otherwise rusty start, with Philip Danaher being introduced as manager, much to the amusement of Donal Lenihan ("I'd hoped to last more than two minutes"), and Warren Gatland as the New Zealand coach.

But when the opening question concerned the recent referendum result and how much this would influence morale in the squad, tour captain Paddy Johns looked as if he had been slapped with a wet fish. Showing all the distribution skills of a modern-day lock, Johns immediately passed the microphone over to Lenihan. The manager diplomatically pointed out that rugby was a 32-county game in Ireland.

Due to the eye contact from his fellow players, Johns was struggling to keep a straight face. Thus, when asked about Ireland's track record against the Springboks (one win in 10 attempts) Johns induced guffaws all round with a typically cryptic response. "Definitely room for improvement there."

Quite what the attendant Cape Town press pack thought of all this joviality is a moot point. By the same token, a fumbling afternoon session, during which a `skins' side discarded their green jerseys for the purposes of identification, must have confirmed the impression that here was a bunch of jokers.

But this will soon be deadly serious stuff, and there was the first inkling of a Test side in training before tomorrow's announcement of the team to play Boland in Saturday's opener.

Johns and backs coach Danaher will sit in with Warren Gatland and Lenihan at tomorrow's selection meeting, though in essence this will henceforth be Gatland's team. As one dry Connacht wit has already observed, after 40 years of trying to acquire one seat among the big five, now they have the only selector.

Yesterday, in many respects, marked the start of Ireland's preparations for the 1999 World Cup, a point emphasised by Gatland in a rare note of seriousness at the morning press conference. But Gatland, too, was particularly amused when a local journalist suggested that the Springboks were vulnerable at the moment in the light of their depressing showing in the Super 12s (the Coastal Sharks's semi-final defeat to Canterbury on Sunday compounded the presence of their three other representatives in the bottom third of the table). "I don't think South African rugby is ever vulnerable," he said.

Evidence of the World Cup build-up beginning here is manifest in a number of ways. For starters, only Eric Miller, Ross Nesdale and the injured Jeremy Davidson are absent (Keith Wood is to join the tour next week) all of which is in marked contrast to the English squad, who are dropping off like flies for their masochistic mission Down Under.

Aside from the clear message that absence from this tour could have long-term consequences, Gatland is also helping to steer many of the English-based players home. To that end, Mark McCall's return to Dungannon was confirmed yesterday.

It wasn't the size of the new contract being offered to him by London Irish, more the lack of security in it, especially when compared to the offer of returning home and enjoying a greater likelihood of regular rugby plus better representative chances.

Similarly, David Humphreys's projected return home from London Irish will come before the IRFU's contracts sub-committee on Thursday, a case which suggests he too favours Dungannon over his former club, Ballymena.

If, as is expected, the union see the light and Humphreys is permitted to join Dungannon, with Gabriel Fulcher to join Lansdowne, then that is likely to facilitate both Gatland's and the union's desire to have more of a home-based squad.

Others are sure to follow shortly, especially from London Irish, where the break-up of that squad continues apace with the release of long-standing squad members such as Ciaran Bird and Sean Burns, and the anticipated announcement shortly of several Super 12 captures by the Sunbury club.

Hence, unlike the euphoric mood of a year ago when the London Irish tourists in New Zealand had just negotiated a two-legged relegation play-off with Coventry, this time there was no sense of joy. Just sadness that the squad is being broken up and that henceforth London Irish will pretty much be Irish in name only.

Aside from the resting Paul Wallace, Ciaran Clarke (Achilles), Malcolm O'Kelly (knee) and Richie Wallace (in bed with a tummy bug) did not take part in yesterday's opening work-out. There will be one session this morning, in keeping with a less intense approach than the one adopted during last summer's development tour.