If Simon Easterby and his management team wanted any justification for a Guinness Six Nations warm-weather training camp in Portugal, then this week certainly is their perfect example.
As Storm Éowyn caused havoc across Ireland, the Irish squad had no disruption to their plans at their camp in the Algarve.
With the country coming to the end of a Status Red weather warning, the Irish squad were working away as usual out on the pitch at Quinta do Lago.
With heavier training sessions yesterday and tomorrow, the squad went through some light work in their units on the pitch this morning, aided by a giant pitchside screen where they could highlight game situations and walk through their strategy in balmy 16C conditions.
It's the third year in a row that their Six Nations campaign has started out here in Portugal, while they also held camps before last year’s Autumn Nations Series and the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
For forwards coach Paul O’Connell (above), it’s become an invaluable part of their season.
"It's a bit of a change of scenery. When we come out here, the players definitely enjoy it," he said from their training base, The Campus.
"It's a great training facility, they really enjoy the hotel. I suppose there's a bit of a feeling of 'we're in with Ireland now'. We're out of the country and there's this special experience because it is a great week.
"The training pitch out there is beautiful. We get to have a lot of meetings outdoors because of the weather. Generally, you stay around on the pitch a bit longer, you get to have a few more conversations with players.
"We have the hotel to ourselves so it's a great way in week one when the players have to take on a lot."
After gathering in camp Monday morning, the squad flew out to Portugal on Wednesday for a seven-day stay as they prepare for their Six Nations opener against England on 1 February at Aviva Stadium.
All 36 members of the party have been training in recent days, while Leinster trio Dan Sheehan, James Lowe, Jack Boyle and Connacht's Caolin Blade will link up with the team after their respective BKT United Rugby Championship games this weekend, having stayed behind to get gametime with their provinces.
The other obvious absentee this week has been head coach Andy Farrell, who is stepping aside until the end of his commitments with the British and Irish Lions this summer.
In his absence, defence coach Easterby has taken the head coach job on an interim basis, assisted by O’Connell, Andrew Goodman and John Fogarty.
And with Ireland looking to win an unprecedented third Six Nations title in a row, O’Connell insists there have been no major changes to their roles to make up for Farrell being away.
"I'd say it has been business as usual really.
"We've a way of doing things before the first game. We know there's generally 12 days before we play and it's always a challenge to be ready to play a big international rugby match with only 12 days of preparation.
"We have a bit of a formula which we stick to, we tweak it a little bit to keep it fresh. But it's been good.
"I think in the first week you're just trying to reintroduce our way of doing things and reintroduce our language and get players comfortable with that.
"We've been living in this game since the end of the autumn internationals, the players have had a busy period of European games, big inter-provincial games. Sometimes you want to come in as a coach and start working really hard straight away so we've to be a little bit aware of where they're coming from, the language they have in their heads from their provinces, and we have to drip-feed in what we're doing here.
"So that's generally what the first week is for us, it's getting back to our way of doing things, which very often isn't too dissimilar to the provinces but there are subtle differences and differences in the language.
"It's about getting the players comfortable with our way of doing things in the first week."
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