Wednesday 5 October 2022
Keane insisted he is not currently harbouring hopes of a returning to Manchester United.
“I’m the only one who knows exactly what I’m feeling and that is not what I or the fans have been reading,” said RVP.
Connacht won comfortably by 2-19 to 1-7 against Ulster in Tuam today.
The Clare man was pretty happy after today’s Fitzgibbon Cup quarter-final.
Live 95FM commentator Liam Ahern’s account of the closing stages of yesterday’s game was brilliant.
Cian O’Callaghan has joined the green hordes in Poznan and he’s already in festive spirit.
His team are top of the Premiership but Conor O’Shea insists he is content at Harlequins and is not interested in the England job.
The Happy Camper is home in wet and windy Ireland. It didn’t stop him from penning one last diary entry for RWC 2011.
Cian the van is parked up for the last time and the lads file onto the flight home with plenty of other Irish. It’s been a wild ride.
As they point it towards the airport, our man in the van recalls the many Irish friends they’ve made along the road.
It’s back behind the wheel for the lads after the weekend’s heartbreak before the flight home this week.
“Imagine a junior disco in Ireland. Now imagine it without the tipsy teens staggering from one song to another before a big fight breaks out.”
“Before leaving Dublin we asked only one thing of this Irish team; a whole-hearted performance. And, by God, they delivered that in every second of every game.”
The greening of Wellington is almost complete. But half the Irish in town have tickets to the wrong quarter-final.
“Tosh arrives over to make the deposit in our laundry press. CLICK, FLOP: a pair of boxer shorts lands with unwavering precision in the middle of my bowl, breakfast is over.”
The lads roll into Christchurch, a city still very much recovering from their devastating earthquake.
“Men like Tom Crean and Roald Amundsen have looked into such tracts of the wild unknown and thought ‘onward.’ For us, this will be the southern limit of our lifetime.”
It’s the morning after the night before and the lads head out for a bit of a bird-watch. Literally.
The Happy Camper is soaking up the post-match atmosphere in Dunedin. How we wish we could be there too.
“The Dunedin Holiday Park was a hive of activity deep into the cold night as the community gathered to sing the songs that always bring us together.”
The Happy Camper has arrived in Dunedin and is soaking up some pre-match atmosphere ahead of Ireland’s crunch clash against Italy.
Some 84 kilos of Irish beef free-falling toward the Heineken-bottle green river below. Checklist completed; seen it, done it got the T-shirt… now for some rugby.
The free-fall from 9,000 feet lasts around 20 seconds. It was terrifying, exhilarating and a serious rush for the senses – it was almost as good as beating Australia in Eden Park.
The Happy Camper puffs out his cheeks in an exhausted exhale. His camera battery is dying, the memory is full and he has just been to Milford Sound, the place New Zealanders go to sight-see.
Sean and company found their home away from home as they rolled up to the ski slopes of Queenstown.
“Tosh’s catchphrase for the week has been “schnappy schnappy” as every time a scenic vista presents itself he is compelled to take a photo of it. The words echo around the cabin as often as the steering is turned.”
“It feels so long ago since the dizzy highs we experienced in Auckland, but you can always rely on the Irish to make you feel part of a group, at kick off 20 people have drifted in.”
“It was another early start in Wellington this morning, 7 am at the ferry terminal. With the Aussies in town, we shacked up on the outskirts of the city, in Porirua, and catch a train to spend Friday evening chanting ‘USA, USA’”
“A future quiz question beckons for a man named captain on his World Cup debut,” quips Sean as the crew move on to Wellington.
“Unsure what size the bags are, or if better value sheep poo can be found, we keep motoring on until sunset and we pull into Dannevirke.”
“For us, Napier is a nightmare,” writes Sean Farrell after the van’s first epic leg of its World cup journey.
In between witnessing historic Irish victories, and hob-nobbing with international rugby managers, our man in the van hits New Zealand’s adventure sports.
Sean and company head south to the thermal spas of Taupo in their newly-christened campervan.
“As optimistic a bunch as we are, we presumed that Ireland would finish second in this group and so, we have tickets to the wrong quarter-final. They are both in Wellington however, so the hope is that we can make it to both.”
Our man in the van, sent this report from his seat in Eden Park – complete with shaky video of Irish celebrations.
He’s made it to his seat in Eden Park. But Sean and his pals have brought along a new friend.
The bags are unpacked(ish) and there’s a city waiting to be explored. The Happy Camper and his merry men soak up the sights and sounds of Auckland before tomorrow’s big match.
