Ireland shaken and stirred but still standing

Quite what impact Saturday’s Murrayfield result has on the next time Ireland meet Scotland in September’s key opening World Cup pool game in Yokohama remains to be seen but, right now, Joe Schmidt has more immediate problems to address, writes Donal Lenihan.

This win puts Ireland back in championship contention — theoretically at least — even if they are not quite back in the groove. England’s landslide bonus point win over the lamentable French yesterday places them six points ahead of us after only two games not to mention a healthy points differential of +48.