The change in mood is as palpable as the change in countries. Confidence oozing from their pores after their 13-try feast against the USA Eagles, and relief at being out of the Holiday Inn in the sleepy hollow of Manchester, New Hampshire, the Irish squad impressively went through their first training session in Toronto yesterday, perhaps confirming one old maxim. A change is as good as a rest.
From the socio-economic extreme of the concrete jungle inhabited by close on 12 million in Buenos Aires, to the expansive flat terrain of Manchester, where the population of 100,000 adhere to more rules and regulations than prison inmates, and finally to the comfortable, more easy going and cosmopolitan environs of Toronto (a weaker dollar and less expensive resting place too) this tour has had its extremes.
In Buenos Aires you were almost antisocial (and invariably alone) if you went out to eat before about 10 p.m. and returned before the wee small hours in that throbbing Latin maelstrom. In New Hampshire restaurants closed at 10 p.m. It was against state law to be served a drink after 1 p.m. Flexibility was a rarity. All manner of laws abounded, such as the one which forbids having two beers in front of you on the counter simultaneously. Hmm, that one would definitely catch on back home. Despite all that, the giving nature of the American rugby community shone through, and is a cause worth rooting for.
About the only bum note since the sunroasted, record 83-3 win over the Eagles has been the weather. The Irish tourists seemingly keep bringing it with them. Unseasonal storms hit the north-east of American and south-west of Canada over the weekend, causing air traffic chaos. But everyone eventually arrived safely to the squad's well-appointed airport base at the Holiday Inn Select, though temperatures were unseasonally 12-14 degrees on the 28-30 degrees celsius norm yesterday for training at the Crusaders club on the outskirts of Toronto. "It's added a whole new dimension," admitted Irish manager Brian O'Brien yesterday. "They're actually glad to see us."
The merit of last Saturday's performance by a much-changed and notionally secondstring Irish XV is open to debate but Warren Gatland admits that record win gave them selection posers for Saturday's concluding Test against the Canadians in Fletchers Field. The team may be announced today.
Though the walking wounded from last week, John Hayes and Anthony Foley, have resumed training, there are a few injury concerns and in the following order: Malcolm O'Kelly (sore knee ligaments), Mike Mullins (strained ankle) and Simon Easterby (bruised hip). They sat out yesterday's session and were joined by Ronan O'Gara, who aggravated the troublesome ankle strain he picked up in the European Cup final, and James Topping (bruised foot).
O'Kelly, Ireland's primary ball-winner, is unlikely to take any part, though this is a reduced concern after Bob Casey's impressive 40-minute return to the Test arena for the second-half last Saturday. Having lost a stone and a half after his injury disrupted season, the refreshed young lock looks in prime nick and is sure to take some part.
After his fine debut on Saturday when he played noticeably better than an unusually off-colour Keith Wood, Frankie Sheahan took a more prominent part in the full-scale part of yesterday's session and also looks set to take some part in the city where he was born.
With Peter Clohessy having returned home, Marcus Horan is also in line for his second cap at some juncture anyhow, given he can cover both sides. Andy Ward may get a nowadays rare but important start for him. Balancing the need to broaden the squad's base in these last two games of the tour is the desire to reward players in form.
"You'd want guys to play above themselves so you'd want to pick a form side, otherwise you'd be throwing it away," said O'Brien. Hence the selections at number eight, half back, centre and full back will be particularly interesting. Guy Easterby has thrown down a challenge to Peter Stringer while O'Gara's place-kicking may earn him the nod over David Humphreys, this is counter-balanced by his ankle trouble and the fact that Humphreys was first-choice in Argentina.
Mike Mullins reminded everyone of his dynamic ball-carrying abilities and so could well be picked if fit, while the desire to give Dominic Crotty a run after postponing his honeymoon is offset by a curiosity to reestablish the merit of Geordan Murphy's classy introduction to Test rugby.
More, arguably, could be learnt by looking at both, with Murphy on the wing, but that seems unlikely.
The Canadians only return from East London today after their demanding sortie to South Africa. Nonetheless, there was some merit in merely losing by 51-18 to the Springboks on Saturday - such are modern scoring values. Despite conceding eight tries, that re-affirmed the impression that they are actually a better side than the Eagles despite forfeiting a 27-10 lead against the Americans the Saturday before.
The Canadian team may be announced tomorrow but their experienced captain Al Charron, scorer of one of Canada's two tries, after solving a second-row shortage by switching there for the last two outings, is not expected to be available.
Canadian rugby is ranked about 26th in the national sporting pecking order, and struggles for media coverage. Their performance against the Boks only merited short reports in a couple of papers.
Only a New Hampshire paper gave a report of the Eagles-Ireland game, describing it as "A National Disgrace" that "a country the size of the state of (neighbouring) Maine (the smallest in the USA) destroyed the might of the USA, though it went on to explain the inequities of the countries' rugby bases and that there was some merit in the US performance.
Today, there is a planned trip to Niagara Falls and tomorrow is a day off for the Irish squad. A symptom of improved training and performance levels, and also of mood. Smiles all-round really.
