Schmidt happy to bide time on O’Brien

JOE SCHMIDT has expressed his confidence in Sean O’Brien, whose form this season has been steady rather than spectacular.

The Tullow native was named European Player of the Year for his performances in the last campaign but the Leinster coach feels the back row — as well as rampaging prop Richardt Strauss — are being targeted by opposing teams as a result.

“Potentially, there is a lot of energy there but it hasn’t quite become kinetic energy yet,” said the Kiwi. “We would certainly like to see him with more blockbusting carries and hopefully he will get more time and space on the ball to get involved in that fashion on Sunday.”