Ireland squad preparations: It's heating up nicely in Australia. Once the Namibians are out of the way this Sunday, ideally with another bonus point tucked away and no injuries, Ireland are primed to come to the boil for the eagerly awaited rematch against Argentina on Sunday week in Adelaide.

The temperatures moved up into the mid-20s yesterday as well.

The contrast between this Irish squad and those in any previous World Cup, or even any tour, is striking. Watching them go through a rare, open session in front of hundreds of noisy co-ed students at a sun-drenched Central Coast Grammar School, the thought occurred that the "craic" has been filed away in the file marked Cliché, as there's little of the old-style, off-field extra-curricular activity any more.

For better or for worse, it's deadly serious nowadays.

There's still fun to be had, but not the least enjoyable aspect of the job is the actual work, at least for those in the front line. It is all planned to the most minute detail.

Scrum coach Tony Darcy takes out his sheet of paper with the plan for the scrummaging session, and he and forwards coach Niall O'Donovan break it up to return to the main pitch for some back-row moves.

Meantime, Mike Ford goes through some defensive drills with the backs, closely watched by assistant coach Declan Kidney and Eddie O'Sullivan, who chips in with a few observations.

Eddie is the Boss, no doubt, but - though he can be a tad grumpy on occasion - publicly even he seems less intense than before, perhaps secure in the knowledge that the preparation has gone, and is going, to his exact plan.

The notion of the pitches being too hard, or the equipment arriving late, or the captain having a slanging match with the coach? Not a chance.

Perhaps O'Sullivan's relative contentment also comes with the security of tenure that follows from the recent four-year extension to his contract.

Don't mention the war? For all the speculation which that flawed IRFU strategy generated about Kidney's position, in a curious way it seems almost to have been cathartic, if only for the two individuals involved.

Players and fellow management have intimated that the dynamic between O'Sullivan and Kidney is better, even if a parting of the ways seems inevitable.

Besides, where before such an ill-timed development might have been a topic of much whispering and might even have poisoned the atmosphere, now the innate professionalism within the set-up allows for no distractions. They just move on.

It's Ireland's misfortune to be drawn in the toughest pool. In any of the other three one would venture that they'd stroll through to the quarter-finals with their eyes closed.

With the Wallabies and the Pumas about, there's every chance that this campaign could yet go pear-shaped, and this mature Argentinian team, who live or die on World Cups like no one else, will see their final pool game in Adelaide as potentially their last great hurrah.

However, with the opening salvos fired, the impression is hardening that if this Irish team play anywhere near to their potential, it will take an exceptional Puma performance to prevent Lens from being avenged and Ireland claiming a place in the last eight at least.

They are actually ready and primed to play the Pumas now, today, if it came to it.

In that context, the Namibia match seems almost to be a nuisance, a threat to limb and body more than mind, which therefore makes it a bigger test, in some respects, of the team's professionalism than next week's match-up in Adelaide.

No one encapsulates the professionalism within the squad more than Keith Wood. It was unfortunate for him but good for the squad that the winning habit was generated largely in his absence last season.

The biggest change he has noticed on being re-integrated fully into the set-up is how many leaders have emerged in that time. David Humphreys, Malcolm O'Kelly and Kevin Maggs have all joined him in the 50-cap club, while Anthony Foley and Keith Gleeson are two natural born leaders.

How much input they have is another matter, but, in any case, Wood does not seem to be quite the dominant figure he was at the start of the O'Sullivan reign. Even so, he still sets the benchmark more than anyone else, on the training ground, in the team room, and on the pitch.

And Wood reckoned that looking ahead to this match was probably more difficult from the media's side of the fence.

"Large scorelines and all that sort of stuff," he argued. "From our view we just have to treat them with absolute, proper respect. They are an international side playing in the World Cup.

"We've got to prepare as we would for every other game, which is to go out and do our absolute damnedest to play as well as we absolutely can, and to stop them playing at all. The attitude is to make sure you play properly from the very start. That is the key."

The two people who are definitely singing from the same hymn sheet are coach and captain.