Special guests.

The Irish Rugby team had a couple of very special guests in camp this week ahead of their Six Nations showdown versus England with U2 frontman and former captain Paul O’Connell dropping in to wish them well.

Head coach Andy Farrell said the team were “blown away” when Bono, who is generally quite a “private person”, decided to accept their invitation.

 “He’s quite a private person, was top of our wishlist, and when we invited him in we were blown away by the fact he was prepared to give up so much of his time to come and speak to us,” Farrell said.

“He’s a proud Irishman. He talked about his Irishness.”

As for O’Connell, who is no stranger to anyone in the squad, Farrell said you could see the players “gravitating towards him” as the week went on.

“You could see the boys gravitating towards him increasingly as the week went on,” Farrell said.

“He’s good for sharing his experiences, giving us a fresh perspective on things.”