Schmidt won’t take liberties with Italy
So while the injury toll may just be beginning to rise and doubts linger over the fitness of fly-half Johnny Sexton and Peter O’Mahony, any thoughts the head coach might mix things up voluntarily against the winless Italians at a sold-out Aviva Stadium were ruled out by the head coach’s assistant, John Plumtree, after yesterday’s training session at Carton House.
“It’s a short competition isn’t it,” Plumtree said. “We’ve got ourselves in a situation where we’re top of the table, albeit by points difference and we’ve got two really tough matches.
“We’re not taking Italy lightly at all, playing players in their first games or anything. If there’s going to be changes I would say it’s going to be forced.
“We want this championship badly and the players want it really badly. You sort of get the feeling that they wish it was Saturday already but fortunately they have to wait.
“Hopefully by Saturday you’ll see a real aggressive Ireland side that comes out of the changing room and plays a style of rugby that we want them to play.”
That 13-10 defeat to England in London 11 days ago will certainly fuel a lot of the aggression the Irish management is seeking this weekend and also explains, suggested Plumtree, why Sexton is so keen to get straight back on the horse having injured thumb ligaments at Twickenham.
“He’s got high standards, hasn’t he?” Plumtree said when asked if the fly-half had been hard on himself following a difficult afternoon against the English.
“We were frustrated with some of the things that happened against England that we felt we could have controlled. Johnny made a couple of mistakes but that’s what happens. Individuals do make errors.”
Yet if Sexton fails to prove himself ready for action by tomorrow’s cut-off point imposed by Schmidt, Plumtree has seen enough progression in Paddy Jackson’s game this season to belive the Ulsterman is capable of adequately filling the No 10 jersey.
“I thought Paddy played really nicely last week for Ulster [against the Dragons]. At the start of the season I was pretty nervous about him. I wasn’t over-impressed, but his game has just grown.
“He plays it flat, understands that time and space thing, his kicking has been good, his passing is accurate, and he doesn’t mind getting his shoulder on in the tackle. I’ve been really impressed with Paddy Jackson and he’s a lovely really relaxed boy as well. It doesn’t look like he’s overawed by the occasions.”
In the wake of defeat, Plumtree said he will want to see more aggression at the breakdown against Italy this week, greater physicality on the gain line and a sharper, clinical finishing edge once the try-line comes into view.
“We were annoyed with some of the things we saw in the England game after analysing it a little bit closer,” he said.
“But there were some things that were pretty positive as well. It was a tight contest, a tough Test match and we were three points short. So we’ve just got to make sure now to finish this championship the way we want to.”
The forwards coach is also hopeful Peter O’Mahony will play a significant part in the final push for silverware, although he admitted the Munster captain and back-rower, man of the match against Wales but substituted after 70 minutes against England with a hamstring strain, was still touch and go for this weekend, with Iain Henderson and Rhys Ruddock in the mix to replace him at blindside flanker if the first-choice No 6 didn’t pass fit.
“It’s hard to say. He looked better today. He had a little bit more spring in his step. He was a little banged up after England with his shoulders, hamstring and he looked pretty tired. So it really making sure he is 100% fit bearing in mind that we do have a massive game in France as well.”
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