Been there, done that, bought the t-shirt, and so now they've decided to skip it today. As events transpired, the main benefit of the Irish management's decision to have an additional session at Wembley yesterday was that they could give the Twin Towers a miss this morning.

"Awesome," was the operative description according to one of the players, and "a far cry from Westmanstown", not least in terms of the closely cropped surface; more akin to a designer stubble than the beard-like growth which is rugby's norm. But having undergone a 90-minute coach journey to the Twin Towers yesterday afternoon from their hotel in Chelsea Harbour, the thought of negotiating the same trip in London's Friday morning rush hour for another run-out at 9.30 this morning was too grim to contemplate.

Instead, the forwards may do a little bit of line-out practice while the kickers will convene to a nearer ground, London Irish or Harlequins, for some practice. Speaking of which, this constituted the main news to emerge from the Irish camp yesterday.

Wearing his furrowed brow as soon as the subject of Ireland's place-kicking reared its repetitive head (you sense that one more question on this subject and Warren Gatland is liable to scream) the Irish coach nevertheless revealed that, to coin a phrase, the goalposts have shifted some more.

"Warren, about David Humprheys doing the place-kicking, there's a suggestion . . . ."

"I'll answer that straight away. David (Humphreys) kicked today, and Niall (Woods) kicked today and they're both going to kick tomorrow, and they'll make a decision as to who is the most comfortable with it."

This, it transpired, may not necessarily mean left and right.

"It's just whatever they feel comfortable with," repeated Gatland. "Niall's pretty good from close-range and a maximum of about 40 metres. David has a range of about 55 (metres), and they're both striking the ball nicely today. They'll practise again tomorrow, we've talked about it and we're quite happy to leave the decision up to the player who wants to take on the responsibility."

"I suppose if one misses a couple he'll be quite happy to give the opportunity to some one else. If he's striking the ball well and kicked all three, he's not likely to give it away."

One presumes that Humprheys will still have first option, though it will be shared to some degree, and whether Woods' presence will alleviate some of the pressure from Humphreys only time will tell.

As regards the Wembley factor, privately, the Irish players were somewhat disappointed with the slightly dilapidated state of the old arena. The dressing-room was a bit pokey and the famous tunnel could, apparently, do with a lick of paint. But to have a full-scale 75 minute work-out - not entirely to the amusement of the groundsman, or indeed the Welsh, who are reputedly a bit miffed that Ireland have pulled a fast one - served its purpose and there's still a sense of palpable excitement within the Irish camp over their historic odyssey tomorrow.

"They're pretty excited about going there and the occasion will be something special," said Gatland, "Most players never dream they would ever have an opportunity of running out on the hallowed turf of Wembley and I think it's something they'll always remember."

As a youngster, Gatland himself recalled getting up in the middle of the night to watch FA Cup finals or rugby league challenge cup finals, though sheepishly admitted to having once had an affiliation for Manchester United. "I've been following the fortunes of Norwich lately but they haven't been doing too well."

The Irish are expecting a bit of a scrap from the Welsh, and Gatland hinted at the different set of problems Wales might provide under his rival Kiwi coach Graham Henry.

"We're probably expecting the Welsh to break the game up a little bit more. If they're a little bit worried about their front five, they may play the game at a bit more pace, tap and go with Howley, like they did against South Africa. We'll have to be on our mettle about that.

"They may also try to speed up their line-outs as well and we'll just have to be aware of that. It'll probably be a little less structured than the game against France."

Earlier in the afternoon, Henry had strongly intimated that his concerns about the Welsh tight five obliged him to pick David Young to anchor their scrum at tight-head, despite him having played relatively little rugby of late. Chris Anthony is now on the replacements' bench, whereas without the 31-year-old Young, the average age of the Welsh tight five would have been 24.

"For this match to have put in three relatively young front-row players would not have been the right thing to do. It's important to have David in there, particularly against the Irish who have the best tight five in the Five Nations. They should have won against France and I don't know why they didn't. They were the better team and played with a lot of passion."

Meanwhile, Scotland have increased their firepower in attack by naming Alan Tait at outside centre for tomorrow's Calcutta Cup match against England at Twickenham. Tait, who scored a try as a substitute in the 33-20 Five Nations victory over Wales, will form a powerful midfield with John Leslie and the out-half Gregor Townsend, who switched from centre to number 10 during the game at Murrayfield.

The only other change in the Scotland line-up sees the recall of the Glasgow Caledonians lock Stuart Grimes for the injured Doddie Weir.