Andes crash survivor talk 'inspirational' for Irish squad
The Irish rugby squad were given an "inspirational" speech by Nando Parrado, one of the Uruguayan rugby players who survived the 1972 Andes plane crash portrayed in the movie Alive.
Andy Farrell's panel are in Portugal getting ready for four autumn internationals starting with Friday night week’s clash with New Zealand at Aviva Stadium.
As part of their preparation, Parrado, one of the members of the Old Christians Rugby Club who were on their way to Chile for a rugby tour, spoke to the squad about his experience.
Twenty-nine of 45 people on board, including Parrado’s mother and sister, died in or after the accident.
In order to stay alive the survivors had to eat the flesh of the deceased.
Parrado, now a motivational speaker, businessman and author, and Roberto Canessa made their way down from the mountain over two months after the crash to raise the alarm, leading to the rescue of the 14 remaining survivors on the mountain.
"He came and spoke to the group when we arrived in camp," said defence coach Easterby.
"Just an inspirational figure in terms of what he and his team-mates went through.
"Terrible conditions. I didn’t realise.
"He was obviously one of 17 players on that flight but he also had his mother and his sister on the flight and he lost them in the accident.
"He spent two-and-a-half months trying to figure out a way of staying alive. It was really inspirational. Some of it you could relate to because of his rugby background.
"The team that he played with has a shamrock on the jersey and he obviously has a known affiliation too as he had been taught growing up by the Christian Brothers.
"So there was familiarity and similarities. A real inspiration and interesting to hear from someone who had come through that and come