It was early afternoon in Carton House, the kind of setting you’d expect to see in Downton Abbey rather than Irish rugby, when Joe Schmidt made his way into the Morrison Room for his first press conference of the week.
Waiting for him were 20 journalists, whose reaction to his arrival into their company re-enforced the sense of authority this Ireland coach has. Once headmaster of a large New Zealand secondary school, Schmidt is often perceived as a straight-down-the-line, conservative type. If true then Schmidt was painting a different picture of himself, and his profession, yesterday.
“If you’re a coach you’re a risk taker,” Schmidt said. “There’s only only two types of coaches, those who’ve been sacked and those who are on their way to being sacked. You’re always taking a risk.”
The gamble Schmidt will be taking this weekend involves people, his type of people, the players who have soldiered with him for the past eight weeks, 15 of whom are going to be told that, for all intents and purposes, they may be talented, but they are not quite good enough to travel with him to the World Cup.
“I know that when we name our 31, some people will say: ‘It’s unbelievable, how could he leave this guy or that guy out?’ And the one thing I challenge them to do is to look at as much footage, to have had as much discussion with the players that I have, have watched the amount of training that I have, and the coaching staff as a group have. That’s probably the privileged position that I am in. I have access to more of the information than anyone else. And that is when you take the risks.
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“Then the imperfection of the 31 is the risk and there’ll be hindsight when someone potentially will be able to stand up and say: ‘They got that wrong’. Or probably, because I’m the one who’s going to be announcing it, it’ll be: ‘He got that wrong’. And I’ve got to put my hand up then if we do make a mistake. I’ve got my fingers crossed that I will get it right.”
Thus far in his coaching career he has got most things right. From Leinster, where he won four trophies in three seasons, it was inevitable he would take the Ireland job once Declan Kidney’s contract was not renewed.
Since then back-to-back Six Nations Championships have vindicated both his and the IRFU’s decision to come together. His tenure has been characterised by hard decisions and big calls, the bulk of which have been on the money. But choosing a 31-man World Cup squad, which he has to do this Sunday, that is clearly the toughest decision he has had to make yet.
To make things easier for himself, he has selected an interesting side for tomorrow’s international against Wales. Luke Fitzgerald starts at centre; Keith Earls and Dave Kearney are on either wing; Nathan White makes his start at tight-head and Tadhg Furlong has been told that he will make his debut from the bench.
The fitness report on Marty Moore and Cian Healy is positive. Both men are expected to be handed their World Cup itinerary on Sunday afternoon. As for Fergus McFadden, Isaac Boss, Gordon D’Arcy and Michael Bent, so much will depend on how they perform for Leinster against Moseley tonight.
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“There will be a lot of players really focused on putting their best foot forward this weekend,” Schmidt said. “For example, we have four wingers playing tonight, one at full-back, because three of them are at Ulster, and Fergus McFadden, who will have a hit out with Leinster.
“They’re all looking over their shoulders and they’re anxious. But, they’ll know that they’re in with a chance. At least one of them is likely to go. Potentially more.”
As he deliberates over his squad, the small matter of adding to Ireland’s unbeaten start to the season continues tomorrow as well with the return of six of his front-liners for their first game of the season. Yet while Schmidt has his officer class available again, tomorrow will also represent a departure for his captain, Paul O’Connell, who will play his last international at home.
“While it is going to be a huge send off for him, Paul isn’t the type of player that likes that attention,” Conor Murray, the Irish scrum half said. “It’s kind of similar to Brian [O’Driscoll, the former Irish captain who retired in 2014] in that there is this long farewell and by the end, he just seemed embarrassed by it.
“The fact we’re going into a tournament with Paul to play bigger games is probably in his mind. Tomorrow’s game is for the fans to say goodbye. I don’t need to say much about how well he has served the country. He demands high standards. He is very intense, very competitive but at the same time he’d put his arm around your shoulder and give you that encouragement you need. He has been great for me on a personal level.”
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Apart from the long goodbye, tomorrow’s game also has the feel of a final audition to it, before the main drama begins next month. And Ireland, Murray insists, are ready.
“We’ve our full game-plan and menu ready to go,” he said. “We’re not afraid to show our cards. There might be one or two moves we mightn’t try this weekend. We might save them for a particular game in the World Cup. Overall, though, I don’t think you can hold back in a Test match. You’re going to have to do everything you can to win it and put points on the board and we’re fully confident with the game-plan we have for this weekend.”
Ireland (v Wales, Aviva Stadium, tommorrow): Rob Kearney; Dave Kearney, Luke Fitzgerald, Robbie Henshaw, Keith Earls; Jonathan Sexton, Conor Murray; Jack McGrath, Richardt Strauss, Nathan White; Iain Henderson, Paul O’Connell (captain), Peter O’Mahony, Jordi Murphy, Jamie Heaslip. Replacements: Sean Cronin, David Kilcoyne, Tadhg Furlong, Donnacha Ryan, Sean O’Brien, Eoin Reddan, Paddy Jackson, Felix Jones.