IRELAND HEAD COACH Joe Schmidt sounded out Ian Madigan about covering scrum-half months before the Leinster utility back was named in the finalised Rugby World Cup squad today.
Madigan, an out-half who has had adapt to centre and fullback roles due to competition, has been ear-marked as the third-choice scrum-half in Schmidt’s squad after he included only two specialist number nines.
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Billy Stickland / INPHO
Billy Stickland / INPHO / INPHO
“Taking six half-backs would have limited our cover elsewhere,” Schmidt said at today’s press conference having seemingly given short shrift to the idea of taking only two number 10s.
Madigan’s low centre of gravity and tendency to put serious pace on his passes, have evidently convinced Schmidt that he fits the bill to back up Conor Murray and Eoin Reddan.
“He has done a lot of individual training (at scrum-half). He hasn’t trained in the team very much, but in the last week he has started to slot in and do a little bit with the team as well.”
It was in the back of our minds, probably not in the forefront. I spoke to Ian about it last season. It’s not something sudden. Ian did some work on it during the off-season, so he has been quietly preparing himself for that potentially to happen.
“It wasn’t something we were going to do, but we had conversations with a few players about covering different positions because we knew we wouldn’t have total coverage with 31 players.”
Asked further about the risk of taking two players for a specialist position, Schmidt name-checked Kieran Marmion after Isaac Boss – who was once a regular starting fixture when Schmidt took his Leinster side away from home.
“I’d like to think it’s calculated. I’d like to think we’ve thought about it as much as we could. It allowed us a little bit more flexibility further out. It is very difficult, because I thought Isaac Boss played very well against Scotland.
Ryan Byrne / INPHO
Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO
“There were a couple of passes that were not as good as they could have been, but I think Chris Henry’s try – he would have struggled to get over without Isaac pushing him over. That sort of physical aspect to his game is something we’ll miss.”
The Kiwi added:”If we do strike trouble, with the 48-hour rule we can get some cover in pretty quickly.”
Ian Madigan has been practicing for scrum-half duties on his own all summer
IRELAND HEAD COACH Joe Schmidt sounded out Ian Madigan about covering scrum-half months before the Leinster utility back was named in the finalised Rugby World Cup squad today.
Madigan, an out-half who has had adapt to centre and fullback roles due to competition, has been ear-marked as the third-choice scrum-half in Schmidt’s squad after he included only two specialist number nines.
“Taking six half-backs would have limited our cover elsewhere,” Schmidt said at today’s press conference having seemingly given short shrift to the idea of taking only two number 10s.
Madigan’s low centre of gravity and tendency to put serious pace on his passes, have evidently convinced Schmidt that he fits the bill to back up Conor Murray and Eoin Reddan.
“He has done a lot of individual training (at scrum-half). He hasn’t trained in the team very much, but in the last week he has started to slot in and do a little bit with the team as well.”
“It wasn’t something we were going to do, but we had conversations with a few players about covering different positions because we knew we wouldn’t have total coverage with 31 players.”
Asked further about the risk of taking two players for a specialist position, Schmidt name-checked Kieran Marmion after Isaac Boss – who was once a regular starting fixture when Schmidt took his Leinster side away from home.
“I’d like to think it’s calculated. I’d like to think we’ve thought about it as much as we could. It allowed us a little bit more flexibility further out. It is very difficult, because I thought Isaac Boss played very well against Scotland.
“There were a couple of passes that were not as good as they could have been, but I think Chris Henry’s try – he would have struggled to get over without Isaac pushing him over. That sort of physical aspect to his game is something we’ll miss.”
The Kiwi added:”If we do strike trouble, with the 48-hour rule we can get some cover in pretty quickly.”
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