IT WAS JOE Schmidt himself who brought it up this time.
The Ireland head coach had already run through the multiple threats he sees in the French squad his side will face at Stade de France tomorrow, stressing that he thinks les Bleus will provide a tougher test than Wales did a week ago.
Schmidt's build-up has been fractured this week. Dan Sheridan / INPHO
Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO
He cited the difficulty in Ireland’s preparation this week created by the six-day turnaround from a slugfest with the Welsh and the various injuries Irish players carried through the week and possibly will carry into tomorrow’s game.
Schmidt is a master of managing expectations, but to hear him recall the week before one of Ireland’s darkest day during his tenure was a step further than anticipated.
Johnny Sexton, Andrew Trimble, Simon Zebo and Keith Earls [the last two ruled out in the end] had injuries through this week, while Rob Kearney was only returning to full training after his hamstring problem.
I don’t want to encourage negativity but it’s probably as difficult, in some ways, as Argentina, because we had Johnny Sexton come out of that team very late in the piece, we had a lot of changes and people stepping in,” said Schmidt yesterday in Carton House before Ireland flew out to Paris.
“It just doesn’t help to be as well prepared as you’d like to be, but you could not fault the work ethic of the lads in the last week. We just need to be as organised as we can be to make sure that it is as waterproof as we can make it.”
He has retained faith in Nathan White at tighthead despite some first-half difficulties against the Welsh, while Mike McCarthy keeps his place in the second row after showing his experience in round one.
Schmidt's players huddle up at training yesterday. Dan Sheridan / INPHO
Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO
“It is supposed to be quite windy and potentially drizzly as well, so it could come down to a really important set-piece battle for us,” said Schmidt.
“I thought we problem-solved the scrum superbly in the second half last week. One of the things you have to do is anticipate what the opposition is going to do at scrum, sometimes you look for solutions outside your team because the legalities of what is happening need to be looked at, but in the end if that’s not happening you just have to sort it out yourself and I thought we actually got a couple of really good scrums on them.
“So, we’ve worked hard at that this week. We know [Uini] Atonio and [Jefferson] Poirot are new in there, [Alexandre] Flanquart has come in as well.
They’ve had three changes to their starting tight five; Flanquart is a very big man, a very good lineout operator. [Yoann] Maestri is the heart of their engine room and they’ll still have [Guilhem] Guirado, who is like Besty – their skipper – and those two will go head-to-head in a very tough battle.”
Schmidt went on to dive into the qualities of the returning wing Teddy Thomas, fullback Maxime Médard and the flying Fiji-born Virimi Vakatawa, suggesting that if Ireland do kick to that trio, they need to be more accurate than ever to avoid their countering threat.
The Kiwi head coach discussed the qualities of midfielder Maxime Mermoz too, as well as pointing out that Yacouba Camara has the athletic ability to go the length of the field if Ireland aren’t tuned in to France’s attempts to play out from deep.
Managing expectations always, but it was all a little negative from Schmidt, who is so often a beacon of positivity even when injury issues do strike perceived frontliners.
Rob Kearney is back in the Ireland XV. Morgan Treacy / INPHO
Morgan Treacy / INPHO / INPHO
So we asked what it is about the team and bench he has selected for tomorrow that gives him confidence.
“You are always confident that you are going to get the work ethic from an Irish team,” said Schmidt. “I don’t think I have ever been involved, either with Leinster or with the Irish side, where there hasn’t been a real intensity to the application of the job at hand.
And so that always gives you confidence because you are not as quite as organised as you would like to be. If you have had late changes you still know the work ethic is going to be there and that is hopefully going to create enough opportunity that you can tip the balance on the scoreboard.
“One of the great things about sport is nobody is utterly confident because with the vagaries of sport you just don’t know what that result is going to be at the end of the 80 minutes.
“One thing we can be confident of is performance-wise that the players will give their utmost and sometimes you are just hoping that that is enough to get the result.”
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Echoes of Argentina week, but Schmidt confident in Ireland's work ethic
IT WAS JOE Schmidt himself who brought it up this time.
The Ireland head coach had already run through the multiple threats he sees in the French squad his side will face at Stade de France tomorrow, stressing that he thinks les Bleus will provide a tougher test than Wales did a week ago.
He cited the difficulty in Ireland’s preparation this week created by the six-day turnaround from a slugfest with the Welsh and the various injuries Irish players carried through the week and possibly will carry into tomorrow’s game.
Schmidt is a master of managing expectations, but to hear him recall the week before one of Ireland’s darkest day during his tenure was a step further than anticipated.
Johnny Sexton, Andrew Trimble, Simon Zebo and Keith Earls [the last two ruled out in the end] had injuries through this week, while Rob Kearney was only returning to full training after his hamstring problem.
“It just doesn’t help to be as well prepared as you’d like to be, but you could not fault the work ethic of the lads in the last week. We just need to be as organised as we can be to make sure that it is as waterproof as we can make it.”
After an attritional battle against Wales last time out, in which Ireland made the most tackles they’ve ever done under Schmidt in the Six Nations, the head coach is expecting tomorrow’s fixture to be decided at the set-piece.
He has retained faith in Nathan White at tighthead despite some first-half difficulties against the Welsh, while Mike McCarthy keeps his place in the second row after showing his experience in round one.
“It is supposed to be quite windy and potentially drizzly as well, so it could come down to a really important set-piece battle for us,” said Schmidt.
“I thought we problem-solved the scrum superbly in the second half last week. One of the things you have to do is anticipate what the opposition is going to do at scrum, sometimes you look for solutions outside your team because the legalities of what is happening need to be looked at, but in the end if that’s not happening you just have to sort it out yourself and I thought we actually got a couple of really good scrums on them.
“So, we’ve worked hard at that this week. We know [Uini] Atonio and [Jefferson] Poirot are new in there, [Alexandre] Flanquart has come in as well.
Schmidt went on to dive into the qualities of the returning wing Teddy Thomas, fullback Maxime Médard and the flying Fiji-born Virimi Vakatawa, suggesting that if Ireland do kick to that trio, they need to be more accurate than ever to avoid their countering threat.
The Kiwi head coach discussed the qualities of midfielder Maxime Mermoz too, as well as pointing out that Yacouba Camara has the athletic ability to go the length of the field if Ireland aren’t tuned in to France’s attempts to play out from deep.
Managing expectations always, but it was all a little negative from Schmidt, who is so often a beacon of positivity even when injury issues do strike perceived frontliners.
So we asked what it is about the team and bench he has selected for tomorrow that gives him confidence.
“You are always confident that you are going to get the work ethic from an Irish team,” said Schmidt. “I don’t think I have ever been involved, either with Leinster or with the Irish side, where there hasn’t been a real intensity to the application of the job at hand.
“One of the great things about sport is nobody is utterly confident because with the vagaries of sport you just don’t know what that result is going to be at the end of the 80 minutes.
“One thing we can be confident of is performance-wise that the players will give their utmost and sometimes you are just hoping that that is enough to get the result.”
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2016 Six Nations fractured preparation Ireland Joe Schmidt Stade de France France