WITH THE ANXIETY of Monday’s squad announcement now behind them, the lucky 30 members of Ireland’s Rugby World Cup squad were welcomed to Áras an Uachtaráin by President Mary McAleese yesterday.

Declan Kidney and his men are not scheduled to depart for New Zealand until next Tuesday, but with the weekend’s final warm-up game against England looming large, yesterday was the last opportunity for a presidential send-off.

After a light lunch, the Irish Times reports that President McAleese paid tribute to the huge advances made by Irish rugby in recent years, while team captain Brian O’Driscoll presented her with a World Cup jersey signed by the panel.

Earlier in the day, some of the team showed off their fancy new World Cup suits and the presents which they’d received since making the final squad.

On Monday, prop forward Cian Healy revealed that all of the players were expected to buy a gift for their team-mates, appealing to his Twitter followers for some help in picking out his pressie.

Jamie Heaslip was quickest off the mark, sparing no expense in splashing out on 30 pairs of Beats by Dre Studio headphones at an estimated cost of €10,000.

No wonder Andrew Trimble looks so happy.