WORLD CUP QUALIFIER: From Krasnoyarsk in Siberia via Lansdowne Road next Saturday to Australia in a year's time, the long and winding road to the 2003 World Cup begins at 6 p.m. (11 a.m. Irish time) today, and it seems no less incongruous now the Irish team is actually here and kick-off looms.
Their presence seems relatively big news. For example, there's a poster for today's match peeling away on an advertising wall adjacent to our hotel. Even on arrival after 3 a.m. local time on Thursday night, there were two television crews present, each interviewing Keith Wood and Brian O'Driscoll in turn, and a few hours later their tired but smiling faces were being beamed out on breakfast tv.
It was an arduous journey, just short of 12 hours from take off at Dublin Airport to touch down in the remote, distinctly rural Krasnoyarsk airport. In real terms it was more like 17 hours from the squad's coach leaving Greystones to arrival in their hotel rooms at about 4.30 a.m. local time. This incorporated a near three hour stopover in Moscow for refuelling and baggage checking.
The late arrival, some three-and-a-half-hours behind schedule, meant yesterday's morning work-out in a nearby ground was cancelled, giving the players a lie-in before a light run-out at the Centralny Stadium at 6.00.
What they saw will have added to their sense of discomfiture. The playing surface is very patchy and quite hard underneath, making the ball bounce wildly. It's also eight-and-a-half metres short, with a running track around it and much to Ronan O'Gara's irritation, rather than the preferred Gilbert ball they'll be using a summit ball - as was the case on the Lions tour.
That visit to the pitch apart, sleeping, eating and stretching was pretty much their lot until kick-off. Oh the life of a professional rugby player.
The weather is sunny and pleasant during the day, around the 20 degrees mark, before dropping to single figures in the evening. Paintwork still peels off buildings but nothing like it used to, apparently, reflecting the regenerated city centre in Krasnoyarsk, particularly along the waterfront which is dotted with a burgeoning restaurant and pub scene.
Fashion is like a throwback to the 80s. Leggy, miniskirted yuppies on mobile phones stroll by food sellers, tracksuited hustlers and omnipresent uniformed militia and police on the busy streets. Everything's a mix. As I write both Russian and English-language techno music (Kylie at the moment) has just started pounding out for the entertainment of the well populated half a dozen or so outdoor bars to get people in the early Friday evening mood.
Earlier, in mid-afternoon, the coaches and captains of both sides attended a joint eve-of-match press conference hosted by the very welcoming Russian Federation president. Conducted around a long, oval shaped desk, picture an open White House briefing for the media or photo shoot and you have it. Inevitably, given the translations, it was somewhat formal and stilted.
The Russians' South African coach, James Stoffberg, reiterated the difficulties in putting together a national side from such a vast country: scarcely half a dozen clubs, the long, inclement winter and the lack of money and experience.
However, one comment aptly put into perspective the notion of the Russians and specifically, the Krasnoyarsk-based players being full-time. "There are no job opportunities," said Stoffberg. "Our team has about three doctors and four engineers but they earn more from rugby than the private sector. It's ridiculous."
Three of the team are based in France, namely their leather-skinned, bottle blonde captain and second-row Sergei Sergeev, flanker Vyacheslav Grachev and outhalf Konstantin Rachkov. All are with Montauban (Grachev succeeding Sergeev as captain), who ran Stade Francais to a seven-point win last weekend. They also have two South African players with Super 12 experience in prop John Hendriks and number eight Renier Volschenk.
"We have some tapes of them and we think we know what they're about," says Eddie O'Sullivan. "But come kick-off we'll see what they're really about. They have a very pacey full-back (Alexander Zakarlyuk), and quite a big athletic back-row, with a South African influence in it and they can kick their points as well. There's not too much wrong with them as a team and they're well organised."
Stoffberg talks continually of their honour in hosting one of the world's top 10 sides and with nearly 100 caps to his name, Sergeev says that taking Russia to a first ever World Cup would be the perfect ending to his career. With doubts about their impending trip to Georgia on their minds due to the troubles there, this is the biggest game of their lives.
Though Joel Jutge's long-haul arrival from Paris had still to be confirmed, with Chris White on standby the match is assured of an experienced, high-ranking referee, less likely to be intimidated by a hostile 20-30,000 home crowd. That should be to Ireland's benefit.
Retaining ball in contact, cutting down on errors, being more physical in the tackle and reducing the penalty count were all lessons to be learned from the uninspiring win over Romania.
The gameplan today appears to have been in part brought about by the scratchy manner of that performance and in turn a slight return to basics - for the first quarter at any rate.
"What we want to do is go out against the Russians and beat them up front," says Malcolm O'Kelly. "I'm not too interested in running 50 yards with the ball. I don't know what the conditions or the pitch are going to be like, but my main objective is to keep everything tight, just play a good, hard game, physically stand up to them and physically bowl them over."
If the pack, especially, do their stuff like O'Kelly outlines early on, then it should make for a fairly trouble-free 80 minutes. Because given any kind of platform, O'Driscoll (three short of Brendan Mullin's 17-try Irish record) ought to have the pace, running and balls skills to create and exploit openings.
Do unto the Russians what the Southern hemisphere big three often do to Ireland. Play the game at a high tempo and burn them off. Otherwise it could be a long and messier road to victory. Either way, though, not getting there is unthinkable.
RUSSIA: A Zakarlyuk; A Kuzin, I Dymchenko, A Korobeinikov, A Sergeev; K Rachkov, V Motorin; O Shukailov, R Romak, J Hendriks, V Phedchenko, S Sergeev (capt), V Grachev, V Zykov, R Volschenk. Replacements - A Travkin, I Nikolaichuk, M Uaambaev, I Budnikov, W Pieterse, P Novikov, A Khrokin/R Sagdeev.
IRELAND: G Dempsey (Leinster/Terenure College); J Kelly (Munster/Cork Constitution), B O'Driscoll (Leinster/Blackrock College), K Maggs (Bath), D Hickie (Leinster/St Mary's College); R O'Gara (Munster/Cork Constitution), P Stringer (Munster/Shannon); R Corrigan (Leinster/Greystones), K Wood (Harlequins) (Capt), J Hayes (Munster/Shannon), G Longwell (Ulster/Ballymena), M O'Kelly (Leinster/St Mary's College), S Easterby (Llanelli), K Gleeson (Leinster/St Mary's College), A Foley (Munster/Shannon). Replacements - S Byrne (Leinster/Blackrock College), P Wallace (Leinster/Blackrock College), L Cullen (Leinster/Blackrock College), A Quinlan (Munster/Shannon), G Easterby (Llanelli), D Humphreys (Ulster/Dungannon), R Henderson (Munster/Young Munster).
Referee: J Jutge (France).
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