IRELAND HEAD COACH Joe Schmidt says he still has faith in Marius van der Westhuizen, despite his ‘surprising’ appearance at England training this week.
The South African referee was present at England’s training at Pennyhill Park on Tuesday and will be an assistant referee to Australian Angus Gardiner for Saturday’s Test at Twickenham.
Teams often train with recognised officials, but World Rugby makes it clears that referees cannot work with teams they will be officiating in the same the Test window. As an assistant referee, Van der Westhuizen appears to have slipped through a loophole.
“Yeah, that was a bit of a surprise,” Schmidt said after naming his starting line-up at Carton House.
“I’m sure in retrospect people are probably thinking it may not have been the best thing to do.
“I know Marius, and I’d have no hesitation in standing by his integrity. I don’t think it will affect his decision-making. So we’d still have faith in him as an official on Saturday.”
A day after Eddie Jones apologised for referring to Schmidt’s team as ‘the scummy Irish,’ the Kiwi was asked his opinion on Jones’ comments made at a function last year.
Schmidt opted to use the power of the bubble to brush past the issue.
“I know there is a little bit of noise about them. They are not directly relevant to us, to be honest. I don’t know what the specifics of them; those words don’t impact on how we play or how his team play and that’s our focus.”
“The bubble that does surround us out here, it does mean that we can focus on the task in hand and not what someone is saying about is.”
From a player’s perspective, Peter O’Mahony preferred to fuel his motivation with more than the revelation that England’s head coach is not enamoured with Ireland’s team:
“You are on the wrong page if you are looking for motivation from that stuff,” said the Corkman.
Yikes! Not what we need before we start… well this is why you need a squad to win a World Cup, Ireland’s depth will be tested.
@Aaron Tynan: big loss in centre but could be a silver lining later in tournament to have Addison as full back option
@BMJF: silver lining henshaw out???? That’s a huge loss!!!! Adisson or Henshaw v SA or NZ give me a break. Kearney will be solid dont worry about him
I’m on my way lads
@#JUSTICE4NOEL: “You’re my Boy Blue”!!!
@#JUSTICE4NOEL:
NOT YET !!!!
@#JUSTICE4NOEL: sorry Noel but no overseas money grabbers allowed.
Ah feck. He just can’t stay fit these days. He was so good last week & for me would have started against the Scots. Hopefully it’s not his World Cup over. Luckily we’ve good cover there but it’s not an ideal way to go into the tournament.
@Kevin: nothing to do with fitness, he did his hamstring. Could happen to anybody.
@Harry Fanning: I’m not just talking about this most recent injury. Henshaw has had a very unlucky run of injuries over the last couple of years.
@Kevin: ever since he left Connacht he’s seemed injury prone.
@David Finn: yup, broke hand against Munster in Thomond. About the only major injury in four seasons with seniors at Connacht…
Hope he recovers but I don’t mind Ringrose and Aki. Ringrose is a dancer, love his play.
Ringrose is just as good a replacement to have. But hopefully if Henshaw recovers in time for SA. That would be a huge boost!
@Harry O’Callaghan: Pretty presumptuous there!
@The Guru: you’re right… could be NZ!
@Sam Ahern: Irish rugby fans becoming increasingly like English football fans.
@The Guru: stirring the pot there
@Harry O’Callaghan: it time for the Italy quarter final
@The Guru: Very insightful
@The Guru: Shurrup ya scruffy fleabag :P
Said it before, has to be something wrong with the training regime when players can’t put 2 games back to back without picking up injuries, Sexton next!
@Martin McKenna: it’s the nature of the game, aging team and it’s about as contact as contact sports can be
@5hbeZh0I: Henshaw has played very little and keeps getting injured, has to be an underlying cause.
@5hbeZh0I:
What does “aging team” have to do with Henshaw ??
Not sure if it was enforced but Addison was pulled from the team for Ulster today at the last minute. Wonder was it a precaution to prevent him being injured if he needs to go to Japan.
@Ruckin’ Hell: God I really need to read articles before I comment
@Ruckin’ Hell: haha it helps. Henshaw bad injury profile, might see Will fly in alright.
A pity. We have good replacements but Aki and Ringrose don’t have the same kind of synergy together.
Loads of comments about Aki and Ringrose covering, nobody mentions that Farrell can do a job at 12, big, strong and abrasive, wouldn’t be shocked if JS picks him to cover Henshaw who is …..big strong and abrasive
@Kevin50: yep, I’d say Farrell could easily be picked instead. Either way ringrose is a class act, hasn’t really been himself the last few months but a lad like him could turn it in a game. Be an awful shame for Ireland & especially henshaw himself if he were to miss out. He’s starting to get tod type luck and in fairness last week he looked class, up against one of the world’s top centre pairings. Looked like he was spot on for a great wc
@Tim Magner: Aki Farrell didn’t work. Not much point in Farrell at 13 if aki only passes after contact. Farrell And ringrose would be better
@Chris Mc: are you saying that because of that 1st Welsh friendly? Cos back in the grand slam year v Wales, Aki & Farrell played and Farrell was mom
Poor fella can’t catch a break.. fingers crossed
Some bodies are just injury-prone and Henshaw’s injury profile is dreadful at this stage. Sad for him and a big blow for Ireland if he’s not available for quarters.
Gutted for him if the issue is confirmed. But as a squad someone else will hopefully get a shot.
What a disaster.
Should never happen in training.
We haven’t even kicked a ball yet and a key guy is out!
What have they been at for the last week?
A few days off and then some unavoidable travel/recovery time.
But 7 days without being on a pitch with a rugby ball?
A week before the biggest game of their careers? Ain’t no expert but It seems odd.
@Oran Burns: why should it not happen in training? Training loads at this stage should be heavy and at match intensity to acclimatise to humidity etc. with loads getting lighter closer to games.
@Oran Burns: nowhere near the biggest game of their careers, it’s a world cup group game. This squad have played grand slam deciders, world cup 1/4 finals and many bigger games. Henshaw has been massively unfortunate but any professional team must train as they mean to play. You cannot train at 75% and expect to ramp it up to 100% on match day. But as you say, your no expert, so il forgive and forget
If he could be fit for a potential qf then he’s worth keeping in the squad.
Is it over yet?
Irish Rugby just had a press conference in Japan at 1am our time. The official word is he “felt a tightness in his hamstring at training yesterday. He will be scanned today and monitored this week. No replacement player has been called up at this stage”. Fingers crossed it is only tightness and not a tear. We can do without him against Scotland, we’ve got coverage. But I feel we’ll definitely need him in the quarter finals, and to play in that game he’ll need minutes in the group games.
Ffs!