Joe Schmidt has capped a remarkable rise to prominence for rookie prop Tadhg Furlong by asking him to prepare to play on both sides of the front row.

Ian Madigan has spent the last year working behind the scenes to prepare to cover scrum-half for Ireland at the Rugby World Cup.

Joe Schmidt had called the process of selecting a 31-man squad for Ireland’s 2015 World Cup campaign an imperfect one but having finally taken his leap into the unknown, the head coach likes the look of the group he hopes can reach at least the semi-finals.

Joe Schmidt has never been one to shirk the difficult decisions. If anything, he has a reputation for being direct and letting players know exactly where they stand and what is expected of them.