I’d rather be McGahan than Schmidt

THE contrasting fortunes of Tony McGahan and Joe Schmidt heading into the crucial back-to-back rounds of the Heineken Cup could not be highlighted more forcibly than by the selection dilemmas facing both men this week.

For one there is an embarrassment of riches with high quality players returning from injury and suspension; for the other a question of how best to juggle diminished resources behind the scrum to best effect.

Schmidt has seen little go his way in terms of injury since assuming the reins at Leinster last June, starting with the loss of highly under-rated prop Stan Wright in the first outing of the season. In the circumstances, he has done very well in recent months but must have looked on in horror as every weekend of international action seemed to wreak havoc on his highly acclaimed back-line. First Rob Kearney succumbed to a knee injury, then Luke Fitzgerald with a similar problem before his crown jewel, Brian O’Driscoll, became the latest victim with a facial injury.