Weather may limit ambitions

It's the ultimate no-win situation. Win heavily against Georgia tomorrow, and Ireland will be told that the opposition weren't up to it. Win not so heavily, and they'll have fallen short. So when you ask Warren Gatland if he feels as if he's in a no-win situation, the answer is nothing if not cryptic - "Yep."

After all the provincial matches, the team meetings, the training sessions and the media briefings, Gatland must be looking forward to finally getting his teeth into a match. But you also sense he knows that these next two games (Georgia followed by Romania) are the mother of all banana skins.

Now comes another worrisome factor: The weather. If the move to Stradbrook itself didn't bring about the inevitable reduction in school trips yesterday , the cold, blustery and rainy conditions certainly did, which could undo the best laid plans of Gatland and the Irish brains trust.

"We've got to go out there and play well. We're looking to limit our errors and turnovers, and we need to go and play. The most disappointing thing is if the weather packs in," said Gatland, glancing out the window in the Killiney Castle Hotel yesterday afternoon. "We're trying to play a bit more expansively and keep the ball off the ground and keep the ball in the hand. If the weather packs in, it's going to limit those sort of opportunities."

Nonetheless, everything bar the weather is loaded in Ireland's favour and Gatland knows nothing less than a convincing win will do. "We'll be very positive. We're not talking about a scoreline but I'll be disappointed if we don't play well on Saturday."

No less than the new midfield combination of Jonathan Bell and Pat Duignan, a particular focus of attention will be the performance of Eric Elwood. Not as obviously slick in his handling as David Humphreys, nonetheless the Connacht lynchpin has been his usually commanding and organising presence in training, and Gatland is far from concerned at his two-month injury enforced break.

"It's probably been a benefit to us, the fact that some of these guys have only come back in the last couple of weeks. Eric Elwood had played the first couple of months anyway, while Eric Miller is jumping out of his skin, as is Jeremy Davidson. It hasn't been a concern in the gym nor in terms of their rehab."

By comparison, that Johnny Bell has put together his longest sequence of matches in two years - indeed his 10 consecutive outings for Ulster are more than he played for Northampton in the whole of last season - has been even more re-assuring.

Where to play Bell, be it wing, centre or full-back, has occupied the minds of his coaches as much as questions about his unfortunate roll of injuries. Bell has played the last eight of those Ulster games at outside centre, and the former Irish centre and assistant backs coach Philip Danaher maintained yesterday that "inside centre is probably his (Bell's) best position."

"He's got an awful lot of caps at this stage of his career. He's got all the handling qualities that are required of an inside centre as well as good strength, which can be used in various different ways from that position."

During yesterday's final extended session, the Irish squad spent a fair degree of time organising their pressure defence off loose and set-piece play. Ross Nesdale curtailed his involvement due to a slight tweak in his hamstring, but there are no injuries of concern in either camp. Both teams will have a gentle run-out or "walkabout" cum kicking practice at Lansdowne Road this morning.

A squad of 42 players has been picked for the Irish Under-21 trip to France, where A and B sides will each play a match against French selections in Toulouse on Friday November 20th.

This new initiative has been taken to give further opportunities to young players to play at a higher level and in addition to a full sixnations campaign in the new year, there is also hope that an Irish under-21 squad may be invited to an international under-21 tournament in Argentina next July.

The squad for France will be coached by Gerry Murphy and Brian McLoughlin, with Philip Rainey as team manager.