THE two days of squad training for the Ireland team over the weekend in preparation for the opening match in the International championship against Scotland at Lansdowne Road next Saturday, embraced cash and carry as well as ruck, maul and the other elements that go into team preparation.

With their legal advisers on hand, most members of the squad signed the contracts on Saturday night that ended their amateur status and heralded in the new pay for play era

Three of the players did not sign but there were no last-minute hitches. Neil Francis had to return to his home and take to his bed on Saturday morning after leaving the initial session. He has a chest infection and was not present in the evening. Conor O'Shea did not arrive from London until late on Saturday night as he was playing for London Irish in the afternoon while Niall Woods, an accountant, is, according to manager Pat Whelan, "precluded from signing any contract without the body responsible for that profession first vetting any contract he signs. . . But that is not a problem, it is just a formality," said Whelan. "Everything has been concluded very amicably. The three players concerned will sign their contracts on Thursday evening," added Whelan.

Back to the playing arena and the weekend work was not without its disruptive elements. Francis started the session on Saturday morning but, on medical advice, went home. Simon Geoghegan did not participate in the sessions on Saturday afternoon yesterday morning because he has a thigh strain and it was decided it would be unwise to risk aggravation. "He could and would have trained had we asked him," said coach Murray Kidd. His absence was precautionary.

"The doctor told us Neil Francis would be infinitely better going home to bed and staying there for the weekend to eliminate any possibility that he would not be fit to play on Saturday," said Whelan. "When one takes the weather into account - it poured rain throughout the session yesterday morning - I am just as pleased he was not present in the circumstances. Bearing in mind his importance in the line out, his absence was a bit disruptive, it would be silly to say otherwise. However we had to get on with it and we brought Davy Tweed in from the A side and the session went on as planned.

"There was a lot of work done on the line out, we worked on short frees and other innovative things we have not come up with before. That was why we wanted the session in private," said Whelan.

The A team which plays Scotland at Donnybrook on Friday also trained on the back pitches at Lansdowne Road but their forwards offered the opposition on Saturday morning in what was an intensive scrum practice. Yesterday morning when the session was held in camera, the A forwards also apparently provided the line out opposition in the session.

Victor Costello, who won his first cap against the United States but was named on the A side for the match on Friday, is rated as having no more than a 50-50 chance of being fit. He missed the session yesterday because of a" groin strain. "The probable replacement in the back row if he is ruled out will be Barry Walsh," said Whelan. Walsh, a former schools international who spent a few years in the United States on an athletics scholarship, plays for London Irish and played for the Exiles in the Interprovincial Championship. Whelan also confirmed that Alain Rolland will captain the A side.

While aspects of the session on Saturday morning were a little sluggish, the work on Saturday afternoon was much sharper in every way. Former all Black John Mitchell, the new addition to the management structure, was on hand and worked with Kidd and helped in the preparation.

"I suppose no matter what match you are playing you would always like more time to prepare. But I feel a lot happier right now about the level of preparation for this match than I did on the Sunday prior to the match against Fiji," sad Kidd. "We have had a very constructive weekend. We caught up on a few things and worked on organisation. There is now unquestionably a greater awareness on exactly what we are trying to achieve. I am happy with where we are at the moment."

Commenting on the Scots, Kidd said: "They can be hard to break down. They have a strong scrum, they have some good line out men in Doddie Weir and Stewart Campbell who surprised us last year. They look capable of winning quite a lot of possession and they have elusive runners in the back line. We must close down their half backs Gregor Townsend and Bryan Redpath. Townsend has played a lot of his rugby in the centre and I think Jonathan Bell was hoping he would be selected there as he wanted to mark him. Obviously they have their reasons for selecting Townsend at outside half as they want to play a certain way.

"We respect the Scots, but we are not afraid of, them by any manner or means, said Whelan.

Both Whelan and Kidd commented on the level of fitness in the Ireland side. "We are very confident we can play for 80 minutes," said Kidd. "We have no worries in that area. Even before was appointed coach, a very good monitoring and fitness structure had been put in place by Pat Whelan. The benefits of that are now evident," added Kidd.

Ireland captain Jim Staples said that "the level of intensity in a championship match is very different to that in matches against such as Fiji and the United States. Our total concentration is on next Saturday. We are not thinking about the match against France. The next match is always the vital one and this being the first in the championship, it is obviously of critical importance.

The Ireland players will assemble on Wednesday night and train at Anglesea Road on Thursday at around 11.15 am. and at the same time on Friday at College Park.

The final of the Leinster Senior League between Terenure College and Lansdowne scheduled for Donnybrook yesterday. was postponed because of the ground conditions. No new date for the match has been set.