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As a metaphor, the Irish squad exchanging Sports Campus Ireland for the generally warmer climes of the Algarve, and finding unusually rainy, windy and bleak weather in Quinta do Lago could hardly be more apt.
It may not be as sopping wet or bitingly cold as back home, but for Andy Farrell and the Irish squad, there is seemingly no escaping the dark clouds.
One taxi driver said this was the second January in a row this had happened, whereas previously it hadn’t rained in the first month of the year for about seven years.
Accordingly, it certainly seems quieter, with less golfers on the courses and tourists on the stree
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