The Joe Schmidt you don’t know

Saturday’s stunning win over the Springboks was all the more pleasurable given that few saw it coming in the wake of a very difficult period on the injury front, writes Donal Lenihan.

Fewer still had any inclination of the new midfield pairing of Robbie Henshaw and Jared Payne until the whispers started circulating after Joe Schmidt revealed that combination to the squad in training last Monday.

When Ireland lifted the Six Nations Championship in Paris last March the centre pairing of Brian O’Driscoll and Gordon D’Arcy had a combined 212 caps between them and were lining out as an international pairing for the 56th and last occasion.