Coach rejects suggestions of Leinster bias

Joe Schmidt has dismissed suggestions of bias towards Leinster fringe players in the national squad.

Former Munster and Ireland forward Denis Leamy claimed last week that too many Leinster fringe players were being picked on the bench ahead of colleagues from Ulster and Munster players who were playing more regularly at club level.

Leamy championed Tommy O’Donnell ahead of Jordi Murphy, Donnacha Ryan over Rhys Ruddock and Paddy Jackson in place of Ian Madigan while also pointing to the absence from the matchday squads of Simon Zebo.

Fourteen of the 22 players Schmidt used in last Saturday’s 22-20 defeat of France which clinched the Six Nations title play with Leinster, the club he coached for three years before taking over the national role from Declan Kidney.

Ulster provided three starters and Iain Henderson off the bench, Munster had a trio of names on the first XV while Jonathan Sexton, who plays his rugby with Racing Metro in Paris, rounded off the numbers.

“For me, I select Irish players,” said Schmidt yesterday. “If people want to differentiate, if people want to divide that provincially, that’s their prerogative. But, as a group, we’re just trying to select the Irish national team.

“If people are going to be distracted by provincial loyalties, then that is something that is certainly not happening within the group. There has been a super unity within the group.

“I can understand the perception but what I can guarantee is that we have all the stats, we watch all the games and we try to do as much homework as we possibly can. We keep the dialogue with the player, we try and make sure they are kept aware of what we are looking for because we are trying to combine a group in a very short time.”