Seize the day, Schmidt urges duo

Joe Schmidt has challenged Ian Keatley and Ian Madigan to help him not have to pick first-choice fly-half Johnny Sexton once he is cleared to return from a 12-week concussion lay-off.

Racing Metro playmaker Sexton was stood down from all rugby by French doctors following a concussion he sustained on Ireland duty against Australia last November. He will be clear to resume on February 14, the day Ireland welcome France to the Aviva Stadium, meaning head coach Schmidt has a choice between Madigan and Keatley as his starting fly-off for the RBS 6 Nations opener seven days earlier in Italy.

Yet while Sexton is expected to get the green light to return to contact training following the game in Rome, in order to face the French in Dublin, the length of his layoff makes his inclusion for such an important game a gamble for the Irish management and Schmidt said yesterday he was banking on whoever faces Italy to relieve some of the pressure in that regard.

Speaking after the official launch of the 2015 RBS 6 Nations in London yesterday, Schmidt said of Sexton: “He’ll be able to train fully with us once he’s got his clearance. He’s in great shape.

“I guess part of the equation is how well Ian Madigan or Ian Keatley go in Italy. It would be great if people could keep putting pressure on each other. I haven’t looked too far past Italy, to be honest, so whatever happens in Italy will shape a little bit of the thinking regarding France.”

Asked if that meant he was hoping whoever plays in Italy will make it easy for him not to pick an undercooked Sexton, Schmidt replied: “I’d love that to be the case. I think supporters would like that to be the case because if they do that, we’ve had a better chance of beating Italy because they’ve performed to a standard and at the same time we don’t feel as much pressure to get Johnny back on the pitch. He’s started the last 11 tier-one Test matches that we’ve played, not counting Georgia, and that’s quite a change if he’s not there.”

As to who starts in Rome’s Stadio Olimpico, Schmidt said he had still not made a decision and would not do so until after tomorrow night’s A international between the Irish Woflhounds and England Saxons in Cork, the team for which will be named this afternoon.

“One of them will obviously play at the weekend on Friday night and we’ll make a decision post that because we’ll have to, really, so that we can be as well prepared as we can be for the following weekend.”

With both Sexton and Ulster’s Paddy Jackson ruled out of the Italy game, Schmidt agreed that playing either Munster out-half Keatley or Leinster’s Madigan was a gamble against a Saxons side described yesterday by England head coach Stuart Lancaster as the “strongest we’ve ever put out”.

“You are always calculating risk,” Schmidt said. “There is risk and reward, and reward is that somebody gets game time at a level that is a little bit different, they get game time with some different players that they might not otherwise play with and so you can start to get an idea of how they are travelling.

“There is more than the No.10 spot that we’re taking a risk with, I would say, when we get together this evening and name the Wolfhounds, because it would be an intention that right from when we named the squad, the Wolfhounds serves a dual purpose. One, some players will get a rest, and two, some players will get an opportunity to get some game time who haven’t played recently.”

Back rower Sean O’Brien certainly falls into that category as one of “maybe five of six players who need game time” the Ireland boss said before saying the Leinster, Ireland and Lions star would first have to come through a contact session this morning before his return to action after virtually 18 months out with shoulder issues was rubber-stamped.

“There will be guys there who haven’t probably been with us for a while who get to play and if they put their hand up, they may well play again the next week depending on how well they go.

“Sean trained really well yesterday. It wasn’t a contact session so there is still a box to be ticked there but we know he is very close. Cian (Healy) is probably a week or two behind Sean. We are going to able to make a decision on both of them on Monday. Sean might even get a run sooner. It would depend a little bit on Thursday training to be honest. If he came through Thursday training and was able to do full contact; if we sense it is not the right time, we will wait a week.

Again, at this time with the year that it is, we would rather err on the side of caution.”

Loose-head prop Healy, out since September with a serious hamstring injury was deemed by Schmidt “an outside chance” of (playing against) France.

“Part of our selection process is based on training. If we based it on two 40-minute windows when we have them for the week, I think it would be a very narrow perspective to take and try and make selections. We’ll try to calculate those decisions post having seen him train.”

There was, however, more optimism concerning Healy and O’Brien’s provincial team-mate Jamie Heaslip (shoulder), though Schmidt was careful not to give a definitive answer on the No.8 on a day when his rivals, to a man, installed Ireland as championship favourites.

“I would predict that he and Eoin Reddan would train fully by next Tuesday. That’s the way they’re heading. We are speculating that. Being favourites is speculation and I don’t engage in speculation; I use speculation externally and I use calculation when it is me guessing.”