Irish left to kick about on council ground

How the times are a-changing. Years ago, finding a spare patch of ground to train on was an achievement in itself. These days, even a local club ground was not sufficient for the Irish team.

How the times are a-changing. Years ago, finding a spare patch of ground to train on was an achievement in itself. These days, even a local club ground was not sufficient for the Irish team.

An AFL fixture between Essendon and the West Coast Eagles on Friday night meant that the Telstra Dome needed to be lined and watered, and that while the Wallabies got their training in on the Dome pitch, the Irish were shuffled off to the Harlequins club ground nearby.

Coach Michael Bradley – who has emerged with a great deal of credit in Irish rugby circles for his guidance of the team on this tour while Ireland await the start of Declan Kidney's time in charge – refused to make a fuss about it, but it is known that the Irish are pretty angry at the treatment.

“They're lining the pitch and preparing the ground, so the slot available to us was too early in terms of having a team run,” Bradley said.

“The kickers used it okay in terms of getting used to the turf (for) kicking and the features of the ground, but we didn't go down there as a team.

“It (the pitch) was adequate. Yeah, it was adequate,” he said.

“In fairness, there's been a drought ongoing for about four years here, so it was a council ground and Harlequins use it and obviously the rationing of the water and all that … basically the grass hasn't been fed too much water in the last couple of years.”

Bradley does have other worries which are a little more serious, such as the withdrawal of David Wallace from the test side for Saturday's game. Shane Jennings comes in at openside flanker, with Stephen Ferris on the bench.