MASTER PLAN!
Schmidt sees an upside to Ireland injury concerns
JOE SCHMIDT says Ireland’s current injury issues will ‘vaccinate’ the squad ahead of the World Cup in Japan.
Ireland went into Saturday’s game against Scotland shorn of the injured Robbie Henshaw, Garry Ringrose, CJ Stander and Devin Toner, while Johnny Sexton is a doubt for the third-round clash with Italy after the out-half suffered a concussion in the 22-13 win at Murrayfield.
Fringe players such Chris Farrell and Quinn Roux were handed starts in Edinburgh, and Schmidt insists that Ireland’s growing player reserves will serve them well after their lack of depth was exposed at the 2015 World Cup.
‘We’ve done well in the Six Nations in the last five years, so if it doesn’t come to pass this year there is a big thing at the end of the year for us and any time we get the opportunity to blend guys in and be forced to make late changes and be forced to kind of reconstruct what we do on the pitch,’ said the Ireland coach.
‘I think it helps vaccinate us against what happened last time. While no vaccination is 100 per
cent you are hoping that inch by inch you can get a little bit more comfortable and confident that people can step in and do a job.’
Schmidt also hopes to have Munster lock Tadhg Beirne back in the reckoning for the trip to Rome at the end of the month.
Beirne has been out of action since he suffered a knee injury in Munster’s victory over Exeter last month, but he is on course to feature against Italy on February 24.
Ireland’s head coach is hoping to see more cohesion and attacking fluency from his players in the coming rounds after they failed to build on a promising opening 20 minutes against Scotland.
‘I thought the fluency, you know, we had two tries in the first quarter,’ he added.
‘For me that’s relatively good reward and you know the setplay that we did score off, that needs a bit of fluency.
‘But then, when you lose your hub it is a big call to suddenly say well, you are not going to miss a beat and so we did miss a few beats and we did put a few passes down.’
England’s thumping 44-8 win over the hapless French in Twickenham yesterday leaves Eddie Jones’s side firmly in control at the top of the Six Nations table.
England have taken a maximum 10 points from their first two outings, with Wales two behind in second following their wins over France and Italy, Warren Gatland’s side failing to secure a four-try bonus when winning 26-15 in Rome on Saturday. Ireland face the Italians in Rome on Sunday, February 24 — the day after Wales host England in Cardiff.