Welcome to Dublin, where Ireland commence their Autumn International fixtures by welcoming New Zealand. This should be quite the Test match, and that’s before you consider the men in green are facing the team that splintered their collective souls into a million pieces with that defeat in the quarter-final of last year’s Rugby World Cup.

This could bring as much drama as the TV show that shares the timing and illumination status of this clash – Friday Night Lights. Indeed the Ireland team is not unlike the Dillon Panthers of that serial. A serious but inspiringly dark eyed coach who’s been married for ages and has kids miles apart in age; key players in the team giving more than a hint they might be too old for the role by this stage of the series; a key playmaker still in the shadow of his more talented predecessor; and a suited back office director or sport type bloke behind the scenes who has a record of not treating women in the employ of his company very well. (Yes, I bloody love the show Friday Night Lights, what of it?)

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