THE POLICE ESCORT nearly knocks us down as we cross the road outside the spectacular Hôtel de Ville de Tours, the local town hall where Ireland are holding their press conference.
Hugo Keenan and Caelan Doris are brought in by people carrier, with motorbike-mounted policemen clearing the way, lights flashing.
It’s the most picturesque presser location you’ll find, with red-carpeted stairways, memorials for those who died in battle, chandeliers, and vast pieces of art running the length of the Salle Des Mariages, the Wedding Hall, where the interviews take place.
There has been a notable security presence around Ireland in Tours, which is just as well given last night’s article in the Telegraph suggesting that the top teams in the World Cup are worried about being spied on.
Local police officers have closed the laneway directly alongside Ireland’s training facility in the north of the city, while thick cladding around the exterior fences blocks the view from any prying eyes.
There are World Cup 2023 staff manning the entrance gate to the facility and there are also five or six additional members of a French security detail who have been assigned to Ireland. These imposing figures, it turns out, are anti-terrorist specialists and they’re with the Irish squad all the time.
Ireland are one of a few of the high-profile teams who have had these special security teams designated to them, presumably the thinking being that there is a greater threat to them than the relatively smaller sides. France is hosting the 2024 Olympics too and similar procedures will be in place.
The French authorities have also vowed to mobilise a record number of police officers across the country for World Cup games. They clearly want to avoid another fiasco like there was outside the Stade de France at the 2022 Champions League final.
All of this is just a taste of how different the World Cup is to everything else in rugby, how magnified and elevated it is. It’s bigger, it’s more pressurised, and it’s more challenging to stay focused on the task at hand.
One man you’d suspect will have little trouble in keeping his usual levels of laser-sharp concentration is Hugo Keenan.
“There is a good buzz, but we can’t get sidetracked by the show that’s going on and the big crowds,” said Keenan this afternoon in the Hôtel de Ville de Tours,
“We have to focus on the job at hand and Romania in the first game.”
Keenan recalled how he went to the 2015 World Cup as a supporter, taking in New Zealand’s win over France in the quarter-finals, then Ireland’s defeat to Argentina the following night. Now, he’s one of the main men for Ireland.
Keenan is set to be part of a strong Irish team this weekend as Andy Farrell looks for a fast start in Pool B. One of the things that has kept them on task is the fact their warm-up performances weren’t at the level they’ve come to expect from themselves.
In that sense, they’d like to make a statement on the opening weekend.
“I don’t think we’ve shown our best in the Test games leading up to the World Cup so far,” said Keenan.
“There’s been some good bits, but then a lot of work-ons. We’re excited for this weekend and ready to show an improvement on what’s gone before.
“We want to put in a performance we know we have in ourselves. If we can lay down a statement doing that, that would be great.”
Romania are an unknown quantity for the majority of Irish fans but Keenan said the players have been doing their analysis ahead of Saturday’s clash in Bordeaux.
“They’re a big powerful pack, they back their set-piece, a few physical boys in the backline as well.
“It’s going to be a tough challenge and our only focus is on Saturday. They’re going to throw the kitchen sink at us, just like every team in this competition. They’re going to have trained for the whole summer, going to have a good block of work in behind them, and they’re going to be giving it everything.”
Keenan is rooming with Jimmy O’Brien, his Leinster team-mate, neighbour in Dublin, and a former team-mate with the Ireland 7s.
The Irish squad have qualified for the Olympics in Paris next year but while France captain Antoine Dupont has indicated he’d like to play for the French 7s in that competition, Keenan isn’t sure about a short-term hop back into the seven-man code.
“That’s a bit away,” said Keenan. “I would have been involved with the qualification for the last Olympics and the 7s, I always have great, fond memories of being there.
“But the focus is on 15s and this World Cup at the moment.”
That’s more than enough to keep Keenan occupied, even if he never looks too flustered out there.
