JOE SCHMIDT WILL be hoping Jack McGrath is not cited for the kneeing offence that brought a yellow card in Ireland’s 22-21 defeat to the Barbarians this evening, but the Kiwi coach admitted it is “out of our hands.”
Leinster loosehead prop McGrath was sin-binned by referee Greg Garner in the 43rd minute at Thomond Park this evening after dropping a knee into the back of Georgian lock Konstantin Mikautadze when the Baa-Baas held up an Irish maul.
Garner did consult with television match official Dermot Moloney before making the decision, but didn’t hesitate to send McGrath to the bin on viewing the video footage.
“I saw the long-distance replay and it was pretty hard to see,” said Schmidt on the incident post-match.
I thought they were looking at Ian Madigan, so I was looking at that, not anything Jack did. I haven’t had a good look at it, but it obviously warranted a yellow card.
“I guess whatever happens is out of our hands. I will obviously try to get a look at it when I get back to the team room tonight.”
A suspension for McGrath, if he is cited and found guilty of dangerous play, would potentially rule him out of some of Ireland’s World Cup warm-up schedule. Those games begin away to Wales on 8 August, but Schmidt will hope that doesn’t prove the case.
McGrath did not reappear on the pitch this evening after his 10 minutes in the sin bin had elapsed, with Schmidt instead opting to leave Leinster’s Michael Bent in the loosehead slot.
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Asked if that decision was based on his frustration at McGrath’s lack of discipline, Schmidt admitted that such thoughts were involved.
“Partially, and partially because we wanted to give Michael Bent a decent run,” said Schmidt. “There were a lot of guys we knew a fair bit about already and those guys we put in to glue the other guys together a little bit.
We probably expected to take off some of the senior guys anyway. We probably don’t need to know too much more about Jack.
“Jack started four out of five of the Six Nations games for us, he started against South Africa and the Wallabies in the autumn and played off the bench in the Six Nations before that [2014].
“For us, you don’t get too many free throws of the dice in Test rugby, so to be able to look at some guys we wouldn’t normally have a look at, that’s part of the reason we left some guys out altogether.”
Delighted for Carty!
Correct choice in James Ryan. 22years of age and any team in the world would have him starting. So important to us for the future. Congratulations to him.
@David: except saracens who would start itoje and kruis over James all day. Not saying James isn’t top notch but just sometimes the paddies can get carried away. E.g krus and itoje and alun W.J are all ahead of James atm. But he has time on his side!
@Kevin O’brien: you make no argument for what you say so it’s hard to disprove but there’s little evidence to suggest that on form you’re right
@Kevin O’brien: sweet Jesus. I guess this is based on a certain set of games where the first two named locks were victorious?. It’s easy to view all of the above as “ahead” of Ryan when you’re surrounded by massive men who punch holes for, and with you. Imagine what Ryan would have been like against those teams if he had a back row of Saracens and England’s ballast and quality supporting him. At 22 Ryan has a huge level of expectation upon him. AWJ is a legend and has a great all round game, but Itoje and Kruis don’t have Ryan’s skill (although I’d like to see more of it), They’re all great players and any one of them would be a great partner for Ryan on a Lions tour.
@Kevin O’brien: except Saracens didn’t even start Itoje at lock against Leinster.
@Kevin O’brien: nah. I stand by what I say. But hey have a knock you are entitled to your opinion too. All great players.
@Kevin O’brien: no they’d move one of them to 6. James Ryan would be an allblack if he was from there.
Best player in the country by far
Goat of the year
@JMG: Greatest of all time of the year? Or you think he is an actual farm animal?
Nice triggsy
@#JUSTICE4NOEL: finally a decent player from micheals