Gerry Thornley’s Lions diary: Irish everywhere as team settles in down under

Wednesday/Thursday

And so it begins, the long haul to Australia. A seven-hour flight to Doha, a two-hour stopover and a 14-hour second leg to Sydney. The glamour of it all. On landing, there’s a prolonged queue at passport control and a sign warning new arrivals not to be impatient and to be good people. “Welcome to Australia,” says the Aussie passenger behind me.

Before the bags are on the carousel, news comes through from the Lions, who have themselves travelled from Brisbane the same Thursday, that Owen Farrell has been called up as a replacement for the stricken Elliot Daly. Talk about hitting the ground running. The slickly organised Uber taxi rank ensures we arrive in the team hotel about 15 minutes ahead of Andy Farrell’s press conference. He handles the barrage of questions about his son without apparent discomfort before the press officer inquires if there are questions about the team selection and Saturday’s match against the Waratahs. Oh yes, there’s a match.

First piece filed. Farrell junior’s call-up will cause a stir and divides opinion. It’s not a form pick, for sure, but it makes sense, albeit Farrell senior tempted fate by saying the lions have “loads of full-backs” despite losing Daly. To save money and preserve sanity, the IT agreed to skip the first two games. No regrets there. Colleagues who’ve been here since the start (ie the week in Perth and half a week in Brisbane for the opening two games) already look tired. Check in to the Sky Suites, which sounds rather grander than it is, but is better than the four walls of a hotel room, and the rest of the night is a blur.

Friday

This whole day is a blur. Make plans, find a bar near the Sky Suites to work and am descended upon by colleagues who’ve been on a jolly at the Sydney Cricket Ground and now seem, well, very jolly. A black tie party also arrives, and among their number is Declan Kidney’s son. The Irish are everywhere.

Saturday

Match day. The Waratahs v the Lions. But before that a day trip to Coogee to catch up with Conor Pender, his brother, better half and some Terenure mates, for the Randwick-Sydney Uni quadruple header in the Coogee Oval. My travelling companion, Murray Kinsella, is there before me, of course. It’s winter, and 20 degrees and sunny. The 2s, 3s and 4s would be stronger than their Irish club counterparts, but the 1s would be of similar standard to the AIL 1A. As if to prove the point, the Terenure pair of Cambpell Classon and Mick Melia star for Randwick, as does Old Welsey’s Mathew Bursey. We catch up with Callum Smith, who was outhalf for the 2s, and am told of a whole host of AIL players decorating the Shute Shield, including the St Mary’s ex-Munster centre Dan Goggin, who is playing for Easts, the table-toppers and Shute Shield favourites. Coogee is known as County Coogee and among the crowd is Andrew Lennon, son of Morgan, head coach of Old Wesley for yonks and who coached my boys in Newpark. Andrew is coaching the Sydney Uni Under-20s. The Irish are everywhere.

The Waratahs game, and the atmosphere, is unexceptional. Evening kick-offs and the nine-hour time difference means a late finish. This will be the norm.

Sunday

Check out of the Sky Suites to be picked up at the door at 10am by Steve Lenthal, a passionate rugby fan and blogger from Canberra, who is generously driving me and Murray Kinsella to Newcastle for a Wallabies-Fiji segue, whereas some colleagues are on the road from 7am and, again, on arrival look weary.

The two-hour drive, notable for sights of dead kangaroos on the roadsides, is so worth it. Situated in an overflow area in the stand, coupled with the middle of the night kick-off time back home, affords that rarity – a chance to watch a game without meeting immediate deadlines. The idea is to watch the Wallabies closely but the Fijians are, as usual, totally captivating, both on the pitch and in the stands. After each Fijian knock-on or mistake their fans howl in anguish and then laugh. They go two tries down but come back with two brilliant tries of their own, and how their fans whoop and holler. They even lead for 22 minutes. The thought occurs that a Wallabies loss could make this a hard tour to sell. They get there in the end.

Joe Schmidt comes up after his press conference. “How did they let you in?” he jokes. He hasn’t changed and yet he has. He seems way more relaxed than in his last year with Ireland.

Funky hotel, the Crystalbrook Kingsley, and cracking Asian/Fusion restaurant, but no more wine at 10pm and the hotel bar is also closed at that time. Welcome to Australia.

Monday

Another day, another flight, another Lions team announcement and another Andy Farrell press conference. Check out of the Crystalbrook for an 8.20am flight to Canberra. It’s a 33-seater propeller plane but for some silly reason you feel safer as well as surprised in seeing Schmidt and some of the Brumbies’ Wallabies contingent boarding. Check into the Meriton Suites, just across the road from the Lions’ team hotel, which is handy for the 6.15pm audience with the head coach.

Tuesday

Andy Friend kindly comes for a catch-up and an interview in a cafe across the road, where the barista is a lad of Irish heritage, Darragh. Mack Hansen did his apprenticeship as an electrician with him and was “hopeless” according to both of them. “One day, Mack came to me and said he was off to play footy. I said: ‘Good on you mate’.” Friend is, needless to say, as sound as he ever was.

A Brumbies long lunch reunites the 2001 team and among them there’s an interview with Justin Harrison before a race to the GIO Stadium where Johnny Sexton is speaking pitchside after the goalkickers go through their pre-day stadium routine. A new arrival completes the four-strong Irish media pack, which seems extraordinarily small given the presence of so many more Irish players and coaches.

Wednesday

Match day, but before that the Irish media quartet have been invited to a lunch hosted by Mack Hansen’s old club, the Gungahlin Eagles, in the Ainslee Football Club, where another former player, World Cup winner and ex-Leinster flanker Owen Finnegan, is guest speaker. But there’s no such thing as a free lunch, and myself and Mr Kinsella are invited on stage as well.

Hansen has donated a framed, autographed jersey entitled The Eagle of Ireland, which is auctioned for Aus$1,500 (€845), the proceeds going to the charity Finegan works for, namely the Kids Cancer Project. There’s a raffle for the 100 or so in attendance, most of whom buy three tickets for 50 bucks, or more. The prize is a two-night stay in a luxury, beachside resort with golf course. And the winner is ... me! Stop the lights. A raffle winner for the first time ever. It looks beautiful. But there’s only seconds to weigh up the options, so I give the prize back to auction. It raises Aus$600 (€340). Good karma and another small contribution into the Aus$75 million (€42.2 million) which the charity has raised in the last 20 years.

The GIO Stadium is not as cold as forecast, but the Lions don’t achieve the statement win they were looking for. The wifi in the stadium, which needs a rebuild, is an issue, but after the post-match press conferences, three quarters of the Irish media corps chance upon an enclosed corporate box with power points, good wifi and, eh, tinnies. Pass a few kangaroos on a grassy verge en route to the Uber.

Thursday

After an Uber to and from Ronan O’Gara’s hotel for an interview with the great man, another day, another check out, another flight (from Canberra to Adelaide), another check-in, another Lions team announcement and another Andy Farrell press conference, this time in the splendiferous surrounds of the 90-acre St Peter’s College. We are collected by buggy and taken to one of the many halls where Harry Potter could have been filmed for the Lions media gig. Afterwards, the Gang of Four have a cracking meal and a few lagers. It needed to be done.

Friday

A long working day but finished off with a media dinner hosted by The Honourable Zoe Bettison MP, Adelaide’s Minister for Tourism, in the nearby Fugazzi restaurant, understandably regarded by one of our hosts as her favourite eatery in all of Adelaide. This will be the Lions’ first game in Adelaide since 1888, with an influx of 15,000 fans from elsewhere in Australia and abroad swelling the attendance at the Adelaide Oval to 40,000-plus.

“This is more than a sporting event – it’s a showcase of South Australia on a world stage,” said Bettison. “We want to make sure our tourism and hospitality operators make the most of the international event when it roars into town on Saturday, with extended opening hours, free public transport on match day, and a boost in foot traffic thanks to the influx of fans from outside of South Australia.”

The Lions really are a big deal.

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