THE Welsh have hit town at last - and they soon drank the pubs dry.

The normally quiet and sedate Canberra is set for a cash bonanza as accommodation in the city is now running at 98.9 per cent capacity.

The first weekend of Rugby Celebration Canberra was equivalent to three St Patrick's days.

Welsh fans drank King O'Malley's dry after the Tonga match and the manager was forced to drive around begging other publicans for spare kegs of beer.

And with the Wales-Italy clash looming on Saturday, students who do casual shifts in the city's clubs, pubs and restaurants are in demand for extra shifts to cover the expected spree.

Even Italian newspapers, who normally give blanket coverage to football, have caught the rugby bug. The back page of a recent edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport was devoted entirely to rugby.

But it does appear, from the Italian journalists staying at our hotel, that John Kirwan is not as universally popular with them as he is with us.

They accuse him of having favourites, of being a showman, of dropping anyone who shows any dissent, giving Diego Dominguez, Mauro Bergamasco and prop Lo Cicero as examples, while they also say he has been known to tell them the odd 'porky.'

Ah well, you can't win them all, John.