Once Ireland's World Cup journey ends in the coming weeks, it will be the end of an era in the squad at the team's bagman Patrick "Rala" O'Reilly retires.
Off the Ball's Nathan Murphy spoke to The Pat Kenny Show this morning about the man who has come to be one of the most popular members of the Irish camp.
The 67 year old has been with the Irish squad for over 20 years but is hoping "It's time to saddle up, and ride off into the sunset... I'll probably end up as the bagman for the 3rd B's (in Terenure College). Where it all began."
O'Reilly has been involved with the squad and has seen many head coaches come and go. Current head coach Joe Schmidt called him "the tsar", adding that "people defer to him". "I think in the pressure cooker environment that we live in, Rala is more than a bagman. He is a sounding board and a calming influenece".
Schmidt added that when O'Reilly wrote a book on his lifetime, a draft was over double the 35,000 word count that was required. "He may be a man of few words spoken, but he can certainly write a few down".
"He has an incredible way of making players feel at home" according to Tommy Bowe. "He's an incredible guy". O'Reilly "epitomises Irishness" according to fly half Ian Madigan.
Rala regularly is the butt of jokes for players during camp. One year he was given the honour of turning on the Christmas lights at the Shelbourne Hotel. The players found out Rala's location and was "mummified on the way down" to reception but a finger was left free to switch on the lights.
A huge fan on Christy Moore, the singer was invited to the Irish camp to meet the team. "Christy is part of us" according to O'Reilly. He was lucky enough to sing "The Contender" with Moore when the singer performed in camp.
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