NO YOUTHFUL Friend in need of a PROMISE FOR big boost SCHMIDT..
JUST moments after enthusiastically listing off the young talent bubbling up around the country, Joe Schmidt laughs as the question is put to him.
Surely it’s enough to make a man want to stay?
The Ireland coach’s future beyond next year’s World Cup casts a shadow over these four Tests in November, starting today in Soldier Field against Italy.
Schmidt promises an answer by the end of the month.
And while IRFU chief executive Philip Browne has said that no man is irreplaceable, the Kiwi’s influence on Irish rugby over eight years has been so immense that he may be the exception to the rule.
Will all of that emerging talent be enough to persuade him to forgo a move home to New Zealand?
“You can get a little bit excited about what the future may hold,” conceded Schmidt.
“It’s about containing yourself and corralling that group, trying to make sure they develop as best they can – and when they come together in the Irish jersey, be as cohesive as they can be.”
Some of new generation will get their chance in Chicago today as the World Cup countdown begins.
Joey Carbery (inset), who finished the job against the All Blacks in this city on his
Test debut, starts at
No10.
Jordan Larmour is at full-back, Luke Mcgrath at scrum-half. Ross Byrne and Will Addison will make their Test debuts off the bench.
In the pack, Andrew Porter, Niall Scannell, Tadhg Beirne and Jack Conan get a shot from the get-go.
“You’re going to see a lot of these guys play a lot of games for Ireland,” said Schmidt.
“We’ve worked pretty hard to get the right personnel. While Jack (Mcgrath) is the only starter around the 50-cap mark, there are guys who have big caps.
“Guys like Bundee Aki and Garry Ringrose, finishing off the Six Nations, those are big caps. Those are big experiences they can bring to the fore. “Two years ago, Joey Carbery had his 21st birthday in Chicago Cup restaurant – and he managed the last 20 minutes of a monumental day. “There’s a nice sense of him coming back to where it all started and hopefully taking another step.
“I don’t know about (the next) 10 years, but certainly in the five year cycle we might see a lot of those guys play a lot of games.
“There’s a bunch of really young guys there, and pushing through, and this game is far from a contractual obligation – there’s a huge opportunity. I don’t want to heap pressure on these players because they put enough pressure on themselves.
“They’re very conscious of this being a really big opportunity for them.”
Whether Schmidt will remain in situ to guide them all after events in Japan next year, well, we’ll have to wait a while longer for that answer.
“Look, I can’t say that I’ve ever enjoyed working more with a group,” he said.
“There’s a contagious enthusiasm in the group – a willingness to really stretch themselves so that they try to perform as best as they can.
“There’s a cohesion there because they take real pride in who they represent. They do a good job of it.
“There would be very few times – even times when we have been beaten by good teams – when I’d say, ‘Well, we didn’t turn up’.
“I love the way that they turn up.”
Connacht Dragons The Sportsground, 5.15pm
v CONNACHT coach Andy Friend wants to head into the Pro14 break on a high by slaying the Dragons today.
But he has told his men to take nothing for granted after being turned over by an Ospreys side who were missing eight Welsh internationals last weekend.
A win today against Bernard Jackman’s side is certainly within Connacht’s compass but Friend has warned they will have to earn anything they get.
He said: “There is probably an assumption that (we will win) and the difficulty with the Ospreys one was that the assumption was from within, that we were going to win. Well, only if you play good footie and we didn’t.
“So we have said now, ‘dispel the assumptions boys, we have got to turn up’.
“It doesn’t matter whether it is an inter-pro game here or another team sitting down the bottom of the table. Whoever it is, we have to do the same work for every single team.
“We have got to become that sort of team and what last weekend showed us was that we are not that team yet.”
With three players on
Irish duty in Chicago, Friend has had to make changes but the availability of Kieran Marmion is a boost.
He will partner new signing David Horwitz as the Australian makes his first start at out-half while another recent recruit from Oz, Kyle Godwin, partners Tom Farrell in the centre.