Ireland won't get caught cold ahead of this weekend's trip to Edinburgh, where a storm of sorts awaits.
The forecast for the Scottish capital on Sunday afternoon looks bleak, with a very good chance of rain and temperatures set to peak around 7C, with a real feel of 5C.
A "gentle breeze from south south west" is predicted but that’s just Murrayfield speak for a gale.
With that in mind, Andy Farrell sent his squad out to meet the elements for this afternoon’s training session. The giant three-quarter field indoor training pitch in the High Performance Centre in Abbotstown was only good for the warm-ups.
"It was absolutely Baltic, sideways rain and wind but we navigated our way through it," Ireland flanker Peter O’Mahony told RTÉ Sport.
"The forecast doesn’t look great, cold, so it was probably no harm for us to go out and prepare like for what it will be potentially like on Sunday."
O’Mahony looks set to return to the team, having started on the bench in the win over Italy where he’ll likely be joined by Josh van der Flier, who may be of thicker skin.
"I heard it would be a bit cold but I actually love the [cold]," the World Rugby player of the year said.
"I normally get quite warm playing, so I don't mind a bit of cold.
"It doesn't change a huge amount for our prep. We'll play the conditions as they are and it's not something that we'll focus hugely on."
O’Mahony, an Aviva ambassador, also said that he’s hoping there’s no repeat of the Ireland’s Call incident that occurred in Rome.
The Italian band on duty went with a slow-paced version of the rugby anthem, off-putting fans and players alike.
It's Ireland's Call, but not as we know it. After an *ahem* interesting down-tempo rendition in Rome the action is underway.
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"The anthem is very important to us as a group and we had a well-documented chat about it, the Ireland’s Call part of it, a few weeks ago. We got to Italy and it was unbelievably slow," said the 33-year-old, who could win his 93rd Irish cap if named in the matchday squad, which will be announced tomorrow.
"We couldn’t keep time with it and we were all over the place. There were fellas way ahead and fellas trying to keep up and it was comical to listen to but at the same time it was infuriating because it’s an important part of how you get started for a game.
"But, look, these things happen, hopefully it won’t happen again. But we are at a point where that might have affected us a few years ago, it’s not going to affect us now."
Depending on how results go on Saturday, where if neither France or England win with a bonus point in their clash in Twickenham, then a bonus-point victory for Ireland in Scotland would clinch the title.
Ireland's last championship success came in round four of the 2018 renewal when, after beating Scotland, France’s subsequent win later the same day against England handed the Six Nations title to Ireland.
"I can remember, there was none," said O’Mahony when asked if that was celebrated in any fashion and if the possibility of winning the tournament on Sunday had been spoken about.
"We had a game left and there was a job to be done, that was the way we considered it.
"No we didn’t [discuss it this time], it’s a similar story, it’s about Sunday for us.
"We’re talking about keeping our championship hopes alive.
"There are plenty of teams who are still more than [mathematically able] to win this outright.
"We are preparing to put our best foot forward on Sunday. That’s our main goal."
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