Schmidt seeks Sexton compromise
The Ireland fly-half put rumours of an impending return to Leinster to bed once and for all on Monday evening when he told RTÉ Radio that he would be seeing out the remainder of his two-year contract with the Parisian club next season.
That will make the need for good relations between Dublin and Paris paramount next season, the last prior to the 2015 World Cup, and it is noteworthy that Schmidt made time during the crucial weekend just passed to speak with Labit.
It remains to be seen if the former Leinster 10 will be available for Racing’s Saturday trip to Grenoble as the player must pass IRB return-to-play protocols having been concussed when challenging Mathieu Bastareaud in the Stade de France.
Beyond that lie four games in six weeks — away to Stade Francais, at home to Biarritz and Clermont Auvergne and away to Montpellier — which will decide whether Racing can make the top six in the Top 14 and make the end-of-season play-offs.
The club currently sits seventh, three points behind sixth-placed Castres, and Schmidt will only make a decision on whether to bring Sexton on the two-Test summer tour to Argentina when his club’s immediate schedule becomes clearer.
“If they make the top six they will have a ‘barrages’ match,” said Schmidt who noted that Sexton will have three ‘free’ European weekends.
“If they get through that they will play right through until the end. If not, Johnny may not have had that much rugby and it may be pertinent to bring him along. One of the things is that you want to be growing the other 10s but, at the same time, 10 is a pretty pivotal position for any team to have some sort of continuity. That is one of those things that we will have a think about this week.”
Sexton has already played 27 times for Ireland and Racing this season. He has had just a three-week holiday during the summer post-Lions and a brief break in January, but his club season would be over as soon as May 3 should Racing fail to make the play-offs. In that scenario, he would be afforded a five-week layoff from competitive action prior to Ireland’s first Test against the Pumas on June 7 and Schmidt certainly spoke yesterday like a man who would be loath to leave his on-field general behind.
Yet the Kiwi must balance his and the team’s reliance on Sexton with the need to give greater Test exposure to Paddy Jackson and Ian Madigan who have just 17 international appearances banked between them and with all bar half-a-dozen of those coming off the bench. He confirmed his trust in both again yesterday but Schmidt would no doubt be thrilled to see Madigan afforded greater time on the park with Leinster and Jackson handed more responsibility with the place-kicking at Ulster as the season draws to a close.
The former has had to split his time in the 10 shirt with Jimmy Gopperth while Jackson will get a rare chance to kick from the tee this weekend as Ruan Pienaar has been declared unavailable for Ulster’s meeting with Edinburgh. Whatever occurs between now and the summer in the PRO12 and Heineken Cup, Schmidt was adamant that he will not be turning the screws on any of the provincial coaches to play a particular player or to use someone in a particular manner.
“I wouldn’t impose any kind of influence on the provincial coaches,” he said. “The provincial coaches, like the (strength and conditioning), are doing a great job getting players to progress and we’ve been really well helped during the Six Nations period. There has been some really good discourse. Players have got back and played for their province. If a province has really needed a particular position, we’ve tried to facilitate it and let that player go back earlier in the week and we have just grabbed some other guys.”
