‘We have to go out with absolute belief’

picked Douvan to get beaten Wednesday at 4/1 on? Who would have picked us to win (against New Zealand) in Chicago at 13/1 in a two-horse race? ‘That’s what people love about sport. Can we (win)? We have to believe we can. We have got to go out there with that absolute belief that we can and we know that at the same time if we don’t get as much as possible right, they will be too good.’ Schmidt’s preparations to not only deny England a second successive Slam but also a world record 19th straight Test win started coming unstuck after Tuesday training, with Kearney reporting knee discomfort that now requires specialist medical opinion. His place at full-back has gone to Jared Payne, recently returned to playing after a kidney injury. Meanwhile, Murray, who did noncontact training Tuesday, suffered additional bruising to his shoulder during yesterday’s contact session, leaving Schmidt fearing the loss of the scrum-half early on against England. Kieran Marmion, who played most of last week’s second half in defeat to Wales, comes in for just his second start. Iain Henderson is also promoted from the bench, fatigue the reason for Toner’s demotion to the bench. Toner and Murray had started all 19 of their coach’s Six Nations matches since 2014, but those ever-present runs will now end against an opposition Schmidt claims don’t fear coming to Dublin. ‘They are the No 2 side in the world, have put together 18 consecutive Test match victories. I don’t think they are intimidated going somewhere else.’