JOE: SCHMIDT IS HITTING FAN

SCHMIDT: PLAYERS ARE TRYING TOO HARD

JOE SCHMIDT insists he’s as concerned as Ireland fans about the team’s lack of form. Ireland remain in the Six Nations title hunt after a drab 26-16 victory over Italy but bigger tests lie ahead against France and Wales.

“Look, I’d just say I am as worried as they are,” said Schmidt (above). “I don’t have any crystal ball, other than to say I know how hard this group work, and to say we have had fantastic support, and the group massively appreciate it.

“There was a real fear of letting those people down.. of letting themselves down. I know how hard they work to make sure they deliver the performance they want”

JOE SCHMIDT admits Ireland need to rediscover the confidence that propelled them to second in the world rankings last year.

Following the unconvincing victory over Italy on Sunday, which came on the back of a scratchy win at Murrayfield and the opening defeat to England, Schmidt believes the time is right for the players to “take a step back and take a deep breath.”

Schmidt confesses that he’s worried about Ireland’s performances, but qualifies that by saying that he felt the same last year and Ireland won the Grand Slam.

“You can sugarcoat things sometimes because of where you end up, not because of what you did in the process,” he said, reflecting on some closerun encounters last year. But clearly he is concerned that the players are still trying to shake off the effects of that loss at home to England the first Six Nations defeat at the Aviva Stadium on his watch.

“Sometimes when players haven’t played for a long time and they don’t quite get it perfect when they come back in, they can get a little frustrated and then try too hard,” he said.

“When they try too hard it doesn’t go well for them and then they start to lose a bit of confidence.

“The coaching staff, it’s our job to re-energise the group and reignite the confidence.

“As soon as you lose that confidence... there’s a couple of times where I felt we could’ve taken a risk on Sunday, but didn’t because we’re feeling a little bit suffocated.”

Wales’ win over England suddenly opened the door for Ireland in terms of defending their title but the first half performance in Rome was not what was expected.

Schmidt explained: “What I said is, ‘This is great, we’re under pressure, how do we respond as a collective?’.

“I didn’t want to put pressure on individuals because we’ve got some who are new into the team, getting a big start, and we had individuals trying to get their form back and build their way back into the team.

“It was really about making sure that they got together and created sufficient opportunity that we could get the five points that we needed.”

When Schmidt gathers his players together again – they have an open session in Belfast on Friday to kick on preparations ahead of the France clash on Sunday week – he will emphasise the need to end this campaign with back to back performances in a six day period.

Robbie Henshaw (left), CJ Stander, Garry Ringrose, Joey Carbery and Tadhg Beirne – Munster’s man of the match on Friday – should be available for France.

Rory Best, Cian Healy and James Ryan will also return having been rested so standards should rise.

“The ones who aren’t 100 per cent ready for France may come in for the Welsh week,” said Schmidt. “A lot of that’s dependent on how they are.

“We feel that we can put a really good performance together and it’s got to be in two weeks’ time.”