'It was absolutely barbaric' - Scars of 2019 motivating Ireland's RWC warm-up campaign

While we haven't seen Ireland kick a ball in their Rugby World Cup preparations, it's becoming pretty clear that their summer camp has been a break from the past.

In recent weeks Iain Henderson described what's been a "more progressive" pre-season campaign under Andy Farrell in comparison to his previous World Cup experiences, while Robbie Henshaw also spoke of how the rugby ball has featured far more in their conditioning sessions early in the pre-season block.

It seems other lessons from 2019 have also been learned. After this Saturday's meeting with Italy at the Aviva Stadium (live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player) Andy Farrell's side will head for a week's training at their home-away-from-home at Quinta do Lago in Portugal, just as they did before the Six Nations earlier this year.

Four years ago The Campus was also the venue of a pre-World Cup trip for the Irish squad, who flew straight from a grueling week in Portugal to London, where they were jelly-legged on a sweltering day and given a record 57-15 hammering by England as alarms rang around Ireland's prospects. This time round, Farrell's side will take the weekend off after being put through their paces on the Algarve.

For 22 of the 42 players in the training squad, a pre-season World Cup camp is new territory. Word of 2019 seems to have spread like a cautionary tale.

"I think the lads were talking about the 2019 World Cup campaign, it was absolutely barbaric so this has been very enjoyable," said Craig Casey (below), one of those involved in his first World Cup campaign.

"We've kind of mixed the craic with really hard work, doing a lot of rugby skills, a lot of rugby sessions, so it's been brilliant."

As Paul O'Connell explains, the science around what's needed in a pre-season