Five Ireland changes but beware wounded pride
Ireland coach Joe Schmidt has made five changes to the team that lost to England as his side prepare to face Scotland at BT Murrayfield tomorrow.
Four of the changes have been forced upon him by injuries after that shock opening weekend defeat in Dublin.
That result also means tomorrow’s game has taken on far greater significance for Ireland, morphing into a “mustwin” match for Schmidt’s World Cup contenders if they want to retain that tag.
Two years ago Vern Cotter’s Scotland ambushed an Irish outfit who had arrived at the ground just 46 minutes before kick off, following a roundabout route favoured by their police outriders, and were caught cold.
“Last time I said to Vern Cotter, ‘Did you organise that?,’” Schmidt recalled at yesterday’s team announcement. “‘Fortysix minutes before kick-off.’ He told me: ‘I said 36!’ I don’t get much change from my old friend Vern.
“It’s an incredibly simple route from [the] Balmoral [Hotel] to Murrayfield. How the police every got lost remains a mystery to us.”
Schmidt has more pressing concerns this week. His team will confront a confident Scotland squad while undermined by a slew of injuries to their own players. The coach is already missing the likes of Iain Henderson, Tadhg Beirne and Dan Leavy and now Gary Ringrose, Robbie Henshaw, CJ
0 Ireland centre Chris Farrell in action against Wales in Dublin during last year’s Six Nations championship. Stander and Devin Toner have been added to the casualty list.
Leggy Munster centre Chris Farrell will make only his second Six Nations appearance in what will be his fourth Test match, in the No 13 shirt outside Bundee Aki with whom he teamed up against Wales last season.
The outside centre is also a key defensive decision maker, which means two Farrells, Chris and Ireland assistant coach Andy, are jointly responsible for stopping the Scots from scoring.
Schmidt said Henshaw may have been available for this match at a push, but the centre is carrying a dead leg and he was not risked. At least the Irish coach is able to call upon the cool head and experience of veteran full-back Rob Kearney, who takes his place as the last line of defence and is sure to diffuse any bombs Scotland send his way with a little less drama than Henshaw did in Dublin.
Schmidt added: “Once Garry Ringrose was ruled out, it was trying to keep continuity from past campaigns and be as cohesive as we could. We didn’t have the cohesion last weekend.”
While Kearney is a reliable operator, he doesn’t boast an excess of speed over the ground and you’d back Stuart Hogg every time if the Scots canmanufactureone-on-ones between the two full-backs.
Ireland’s other three changes come in the pack where the loss of the giant lock Toner should make life a little easier for Scotland’s lineout.
He is replaced by South African project player Quinn Roux of Connacht, who offers set-piece stability and calls the lineouts, a task that Toner would normally carry out.
“Quinn will share the lineout calling with Peter O’mahony,” said Schmidt. “He did it last week when he replaced Devin Toner and I have no qualms about him doing it. He did here in training and in Connacht.”
“I’ve mentioned continuity but it is a fabulous opportunity for other players. We could be struck like we were four years ago [at an injury-plagued 2015 Rugby World Cup] but we have had a good run in this competition and maybe this opportunity would have happened away. We need to have flexibility.”
If Roux’s elevation to the starting XV weakens the Irish cause, then the return of British and Irish Lions flanker Sean O’brien to the back-row can only bolster them, both mentally and physically.
He and fellow Leinster breakaway Jack Conan take the places of Josh van der Flier and CJ Stander respectively.
The South African No 8 is injured and van der Flier – Irish born and bred despite the name – is dropped to the bench.
Their Leinster replacements will be expected to bring greater physicality and intensity than in the collisions against England’s behemoths. Once the English big men had won the battle of the gain line, stopping the flow of quick, frontfoot ball to stand-off Jonny Sexton, the Irish attack looked toothless.
Schmidt yesterday found himself in the unusual position of having to defend his conservative, box-kicking tactics.
“We have a very varied game,” insisted the Kiwi. “We play strong off set-piece, we have a varied kicking and attacking game. And we try to vary our defensive game. I’ll leave them to do their analysis and we’ll do ours and try to keep improving.”
The back lines look evenly matched – if Scotland can counter Ireland’s physicality at the breakdown.
But that is a huge ask, especially given the wounded pride that the Irish players will wrap around themselves like a second skin tomorrow.