Rugby fans soak up joys of Rome before battle

As a typical February monsoon soaked the Eternal City, Irish rugby fans remained unfazed.

Sitting in the otherwise deserted “al fresco” footpath section of the Ristorante Panico were three Northern Irish men and one Italian friend, apparently unworried by the universal deluge that was a plastic tarpaulin away.

Perhaps it was something to do with the good bottle of red wine on the table, but this quartet seemed as comfortable and cosy as on a sunny Roman day in May.

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Iain Jones and Luke Hopkins from Belfast in Rome for the match. Photograph: Dan Sheridan/Inpho

The conversation ranged over a wide range of topics. Rab, who runs a real estate business in Portadown, had a lot of interesting observations to make on the not-so-dynamic Northern Irish property market.

Stan, who works as a prison officer in Leeds, said the Italian "away" game was a distinct favourite with Irish fans because, rather than having to fork out £250 for a ticket (as is the case apparently for England v Ireland games), tickets for tomorrow's game started at €25.

There are, of course, at least two other reasons for enjoying the Italian away game. For a start, Ireland tend to have a good record against the Italians, who even if they keep on improving, still start out as serious candidates for the wooden spoon.

Much more important, however, is the fact that the Italo-Swiss wife of Watford-based Dean had found a flat to house the whole expedition for the splendid price of €265 for three nights. Try getting something equivalent round the corner from Twickenham and see how far you get.

As the the rain finally ceased, the Irish were much in evidence in all the obvious downtown places. When you walk around somewhere like the Pantheon, the ear usually picks up on French, German, Dutch, Russian and American voices.

Alongside those voices, there was a real Irish twang in the air. It is rare to walk up Via del Seminario, off Piazza della Rotonda in front of the Pantheon, and encounter dulcet Belfast tones, such as those of the woman announcing to her party: “That’s a nice wee bar, why don’t we stop there . . . ”

Indeed it was . . . and indeed they did.

About 8,000-10,000 Irish fans are expected at the Stadio Olimpico for Saturday’s game.

For the time being, especially in view of the bad weather, they have been keeping their powder and their match-day outfits – silly hats, Irish rugby shirts and exotic hair – dry.

Rather in the best away match tradition in Rome, they were ensuring pubs such as Finnegans, the Fiddler’s Elbow, Scholars and the Druid’s Den did not go deserted.

After the match, there will be the so-called “Third Half” when Irish and Italian fans mix together over beer in the Peroni village and listen to (not really) “Irish” bands with unlikely names such as Onydanse, Etnoarmonia and Mortimer MC Grave.

Here, too, as on the Olimpico pitch, one suspects the Irish will be having the better of things, scoring both more points and more pints.