SCHMIDT PACKS A PUNCH
Irish new boys can shine in team with experienced spine
SELECTION day at Carton House threatened to turn into a sideshow before Joe Schmidt made it to Dublin airport to fly out to Paris last night.
The major curveball in the usual Thursday who’s who about the 23 chosen for Stade de France tomorrow was questioning about the ongoing legal case in Belfast concerning Ulster duo Paddy Jackson and Stuart Olding, proceedings attended by Ireland skipper Rory Best and second row Iain Henderson on Wednesday.
Another distraction was the sacking of Les Kiss at Ulster, but the overall message from the Ireland coach was loud and clear — his team are preparing in a bubble and nothing has distracted them.
‘There are so many things you don’t control,’ he explained. ‘There are variables you tend to ignore as best you can and solely focus on those you can control, or at least influence.
‘The bubble stays the same. The size and nature of events may change from week to week, but we don’t directly influence those. We don’t control those circumstances and they won’t directly influence what happens on Saturday.’
Schmidt’s composed reaction was a demonstration in staying calm under pressure, a useful exercise given what happened to his team on their last visit to the French capital.
Ahead 9-3 at the interval, they eventually cracked in the second half and were beaten in the rain by a single point. ‘Strategy-wise, they put it together pretty well in that first half and it’s just disappointing that we didn’t quite get the reward for that. When you don’t have experience, you tend to panic a little bit, you might try too hard,’ he said after that painful 2016 defeat. So once bitten, twice shy? Not a bit. His latest Ireland selection contains three starters with four caps or less, inexperience mirrored on the bench where three picks have six caps or less each. However, instead of rawness being a reason to fear a repeat Paris defeat, the coach was adamant his latest Test apprentices aren’t as vulnerable this time.
‘We have packed a bit more experience around them this time,’ he said of a side in which James Ryan, Jacob Stockdale and Bundee Aki all appear in the championship for the first time.
‘To a degree that was forced on us then [in 2016] and we knew we were investing in people. Some of it was a bit long-term, but we wanted some short-term results too. We’d a number of injury issues. We did lose about a third of the squad and the experience that comes with that.
‘There is more continuity in this squad. There is continuity from the younger guys, players mentioned like Jacob Stockdale, Bundee Aki. Guys without experience, they come in with having that recent experience and come into a pretty experienced group.’
Devin Toner must be wondering what is going on, though, regarding the engine room. The centrally contracted forward has been eclipsed for the second Test in succession by a 21-year-old who remains his Leinster understudy.
Ryan might not start much for Leo Cullen, but provincial pecking orders aren’t Schmidt’s thing. ‘He [Ryan] has a brain for it, an attitude for it, a maturity for it, and has an athleticism for it,’ said the coach of the young forward. ‘When you combine those with the fact he has a skill, he is developing an understanding and the best way to further development is to challenge it. ‘We want to keep challenging him because we are always challenging ourselves. It’s a big day for him. Iain Henderson next to him has good experience and that will help to a degree. Josh van der Flier and CJ Stander, while they have not got too many caps, they have got good Six Nations experience, and obviously Pete O’Mahony has too. [Having] the guys around him, that often allows someone to just solely focus on their role.’
Schmidt insisted a tweaked three-quarters line with Robbie Henshaw at 13 and Keith Earls at 14 wasn’t unconventional selecting. There were explanations, too, as to why the likes of Sean Cronin, Luke McGrath and Fergus McFadden feature on the bench. McFadden’s goalkicking is a reason why he got the nod over uncapped Jordan Larmour.
And there was a further admission that Schmidt is covering all bases by bringing along Andrew Porter, Ultan Dillane and Rory Scannell as 24th, 25th and 26th men just in case of emergency in a fixture where he feels the pivotal Johnny Sexton won’t be targeted for rough-house treatment like two years ago.
As the clock ticked down toward their departure, there was brief mention of Jacques Brunel’s ballsy decision to debut 19-yearold Matthieu Jalibert for France. It’s that kind of a keenly anticipated fixture. Youth is having its fling.