ENGLISH rugby fans arriving en masse in Dublin yesterday could have been forgiven for thinking everyone was on their side as red roses were sold on every street corner.
Most fans said this was their favourite trip of the Five Nations series, but not everything was quite right.
A group from Birmingham wanted beef. "We can't get any beef in this city, neither British or Irish," said James Layton who was on his fifth trip to Dublin. "It is a tradition for us to have Guinness and beef sandwiches. Every hotel used to do it, but now they look at us strangely when we ask for it."
Mr Dick Burke, manager of Jurys Inn, Ballsbridge, said visiting fans were more, partial to chicken than beef, although he said that if fans requested beef (Irish, of course) sandwiches they would be provided.
"One waitress told us that no one in Ireland eats British beef any more, but Irish fans should realise that's what our team is fed on. If we win tomorrow it might restore their faith in British beef," said Graham Shaw, a Leicester club supporter.
The manager of the Killiney Castle Hotel, where the English team is staying, said fish was on the menu for the players, but not beef.
The group of Leicester supporters said they had tried five separate pubs for some "nicely sliced beef" but with little success.
As for the game, Mr Paul Wiltshire, a Bath supporter, said he was not taken in by "Irish modesty". English fans were "nervously confident".
The IRFU has turned down a request from the peace group, STOP 96, for a minute's silence before today's international.
For some, the real Ireland-England game will be at the Old Belvedere club at Dublin's Anglesea Road, at 10.30 a.m. today. There the Irish Parliamentary 15 will meet their British Lords and Commons counterparts in a match which promises some really destructive play.
. A woman in Britain has wagered £46,000 sterling, thought to be the largest stake ever on a rugby match, on England defeating Ireland at Lansdowne Road. The same unnamed woman successfully staked £18,000 on England beating Scotland a fortnight ago, winning £3,000.
She will collect more than £15,000 if her side wins today, at odds of 3-1 on.