They put him out on the balcony overlooking the 18th hole at Citywest and draped a pair of football boots around his neck. Size 12 King SL Puma boots. Black and white. Silver-and-red shiny leather just wouldn't have personified the Shannon number eight. Instinct says he likes his boots traditional.

The boots have an original stamp for the Irish back rower - a leather tag on the tongue stating the registered owner and his landmark game: "Anthony Foley 50th Cap for Ireland."

No big deal.

His 50th cap against the world champions. Nice, yes. Very nice. A reluctant smile breaks through on Foley's large, imposing face. A rather grand signature lake and mowed fairway makes for a feel-good backdrop for the photograph.

For the player, the foreground has yet to be defined but for him and his pack it will be relentless. It will be physical and sustained. It will be walking a tightrope under such pressure that any slip and the team could go crashing.

It is also safe to say that in Twickenham on Saturday, when Ireland face England for their first competitive match on home soil since winning the World Cup in Australia last autumn, nobody, but nobody, will notice his boots.

"Yeah, it's a milestone," he says. "You never think it's going to come around to you but I suppose I'm pretty fortunate in that I've had a good run in the team over the past five or six seasons and, through that, the caps have started to mount up.

"It's not a bad way to mark it, going over to Twickenham to play the world champions. There isn't a whole load of expectations on our shoulders because all the pressure should be on them. It's the fourth or fifth time I've played them, won once."

Foley's attitude to his rugby and the leadership qualities he brings to the team has made him a regular fixture, often at the expense of Victor Costello. His place at the back of the scrum has also allowed him to log up mileage that against sides as formidable as England will, he hopes, pay dividends.

Consideration and patience on the pitch may deliver as much as aggression and occasionally blowing away the opposition. Facing an English back row of Richard Hill, captain Lawrence Dallaglio and Joe Worsley, you can appreciate why Foley will also endeavour to think his way around Twickenham.

"You are playing the world champions in their home patch. It doesn't matter what nation it is, it's just a massive game," he says. "We're really going to have to play the perfect game to win it. That's the sort of pressure we'll be under. The team that settles early and gets into the rhythm will be the team with the best chance of winning.

"We made a few mistakes in Lansdowne Road last year, then ended up chasing the game and they picked us off, got a few soft tries later on. It is important now that we don't make mistakes and give up those easy tries, as we did in France too. We can't afford soft tries anymore.

"It's demoralising if you are out there and you've worked so hard for your scores and you're giving them scores without them even trying. If England are going to score against us, they'll have to work hard to get it.

"I think the last few games the pack have played, they've realised that. It's called patience. Building the phases and taking the opportunities when they come."

Coach Eddie O'Sullivan's rhetorical question yesterday was whether Ireland could do the same to England as they did to Wales. His own answer was that it was "a different kettle of fish" and a lot "more demanding", but he takes the view Ireland must believe they can win any game they play.

Foley believes so too. But the driving mauls that so humiliated Wales won't work as effectively. They will contest in the air and again when players hit the ground. Foley and O'Sullivan's subtext is it will be anything but like the Welsh game, perhaps even a mission impossible.

"It can be (impossible) if you go in with the wrong attitude. It's important we go in there with the right attitude, see what they are made of. We can come out on top if we do that," he says. "But this is a big task for us."

He throws back the studs and ambles off. Never less than a font of sense, Foley has other thoughts on his mind.