Will Joe Schmidt wait for Cian Healy to heal?

As a learning exercise, Saturday’s fraught encounter against Scotland was far more beneficial for Ireland than the rather benign Welsh clash the previous week. Put it this way: Joe Schmidt will have gleaned much and identified far more ‘work-ons’ to keep him busy over the next fortnight.

The bad news for those on the fringe of World Cup selection is that the time for experimentation is now over. After seven weeks in camp and two contrasting warm-up games, Schmidt has all the information he needs to complete his roster. In total, 35 different players have seen game time and that excludes at least six players who are deemed certain to make the cut.

It is somewhat surprising the likes of Peter O’Mahony, Conor Murray, Johnny Sexton, Robbie Henshaw and Rob Kearney have had no involvement in either match day squad to date while Rory Best and Paul O’Connell have only been utilised sparingly off the bench. From here on in Schmidt will concentrate on getting his first choice selection up to match speed with his strongest 15 set to start against both Wales and England.