Nando Parrado and his story of surviving the 1972 plane crash that killed 29 people in the Andes leaves a lasting impression on the Ireland rugby squad.
But towards the end of last month, as the Ireland squad gathered in Portugal and began to look towards Friday's mouth-watering rematch with the All Blacks, they were served a powerful dose of reality.
It was a horrible tragedy. Twenty-nine of the 45 people onboard - including Parrado's mother and sister - lost their lives. Those who survived were forced to eat those who had been killed in the crash.After losing several friends and family members, Parrado and Roberto Canessa, in a desperate bid to find help, trekked for 10 days without hiking gear, food or maps into Chile.
"A real inspiration and interesting to hear from someone who had been through all of that and still had the positivity to come out the other side and live a very good life."Easterby continued: "It was really inspirational. Just someone you could relate to because of his rugby background. "But until you hear from the people actually involved in those experiences, you probably don't fully appreciate what they went through and how much they're relying on each other and how they were able to really work through some tough times and come out the other side.
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