Irish fully focused for Wallaby challenge

As havens go, the Irish rugby squad's retreat in Clonakilty has turned out to be pretty heavenly. Both Monday's double session and yesterday's intensive work-out were conducted before a backdrop of large local crowds and glorious sunshine, the only clouds on the southern horizon being injuries to Jeremy Davidson and Peter Clohessy.

Both forwards have back strains, although Davidson's seems to be less of a concern than Clohessy's, the prop's condition not helped though by a bout of flu. "As we've also said (about Davidson) if he (Clohessy) is not 100 per cent fit then he won't play. We'll just have to assess that over the next three days," said Irish manager Donal Lenihan.

Ironically, the old warhorse looked in prime nick yesterday, and will desperately want to play in this match given his previous links with Queensland. Interestingly, two of his three tries for Ireland have come in his four Tests against Australia.

Horror of horrors, the talismanic (and manic) Keith Wood sat out yesterday's session from early on with his troublesome shoulder strapped up, but Lenihan said: "there's no cause for concern there." Besides, it didn't prevent Wood signing autographs for the kids who swamped him at the end.

Eric Miller and Reggie Corrigan also had their sessions curtailed following minor bangs, all of which Lenihan agreed is perhaps an indication of the increased intensity of the sessions.

Looking back on the 53-8 win over the US, Lenihan conceded that Ireland made "a lot of unforced, silly errors in terms of getting into scoring positions and some of our handling let us down at times. There was also a little bit of looseness in one or two other areas so it's a question of fine-tuning those.

"Obviously in every game you're looking to maybe play a different game. You don't want to show your hand in matches. I mean, you're looking at a sequence of hopefully six or seven games, and therefore you've got to adjust the way you play accordingly every match. That's what the build-up to this (the Australia) game is all about."

The Irish management didn't personally take in the other Pool E game at the weekend between Australia and Romania, although aside from television and video evidence, they had Harry Williams and Mark McCall in attendance.

"It went pretty much as we thought," said Warren Gatland. "Like us, they (the Australians) would have been pretty happy with aspects of the way they played, and (need) just a little bit of fine-tuning, like most teams in the opening games - probably apart from England.

"They (Australia) looked a little bit ring-rusty, but again there was nothing about their performance that would have made us sit up and said we were afraid to take these guys on next Sunday."

Hidden away at the Inchydoney Lodge and Spa Hotel (off-limits from the media save for yesterday's open day) about 40 miles beyond Cork city, the Irish squad seemed almost detached from the World Cup. But even dipping into their own cocooned little private world, the intensity was palpable. The forwards could even be seen clutching their crests, as the team did for last Saturday's national anthem, when going into sporadic huddles between scrum sets, after which the scrummaging machine left an indelible zigzag trail for about 30 metres on the back pitch.

As with the separate drills of the backs, everything was conducted with a brisk, business-like efficiency. This did not look like a team planning on taking the Australian game easily and thus securing an easier route through the knock-out stages. The glorious sunshine, better than more unfortunate holiday makers got in July or August, "was a welcome bonus. We didn't bargain on the weather," admitted Lenihan. "The whole idea was to get out of Dublin for four or five days. It's a dual purpose really. The response we've got from the people of Clonakilty has been excellent.

"Yesterday (Monday) there were a load of kids there in Cork and Liverpool and Man United jerseys, so it was no harm to expose them to rugby. For the last 18 months we've tried to bring this team around the country more than has ever been done before, so that people see that the team is part of the people, and we want it to be a team that the country can be proud of.

"Hopefully, as a result of this the people will identify more with the team and get behind us on Sunday, because I think the crowd certainly has a huge part to play in Lansdowne Road next Sunday. When you see what Ravenhill has done for Ulster, when you see what Thomond Park has done for Munster against a lot of touring teams over the years, the crowd has always played its part."

In truth, Lansdowne Road's reputation as some sort of seething cauldron is a bit of a myth, as is Ireland's record there - which is pretty dismal in the 1990s against the leading sides. Mindful of the crowd's rendition of the Fields of Athenry last Saturday, Lenihan recalled that "in the early 80s Cockles and Mussels was synonymous with Lansdowne Road. Unfortunately that hasn't been the case over the last seven or eight years. We'd love to see the kind of singing and colour and noise when Ulster played there (in the European Cup final) last January, for all the games we play from here on in. It is important."