THE IRISH RUGBY team visited the Northern Ireland parliament buildings at Stormont, Belfast, this afternoon and took the Six Nations trophy along for the ride.
12 players from the squad that captured the 2014 Six Nations were on hand to meet First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness. With Ireland coach Joe Schmidt, forwards coach John Plumtree and team manager Mick Kearney also present, it was a formidable XV.
Team captain Paul O’Connell closely guarded the trophy while Brian O’Driscoll and Fergus McFadden were showing no ill effects of weekend knocks against Ulster. The northern province was represented, this afternoon, by Iain Henderson, Rory Best, Luke Marshall, Dan Tuohy, Chris Henry and Six Nations player of the tournament Andrew Trimble.