Joe Schmidt gets down to business

Joe Schmidt had called the process of selecting a 31-man squad for Ireland’s 2015 World Cup campaign an imperfect one but having finally taken his leap into the unknown, the head coach likes the look of the group he hopes can reach at least the semi-finals.

Hope is Schmidt’s word and is very different from expectation, which, for a pragmatic short-termist such as himself, tends not to stretch beyond the likelihood of day following night. And yesterday, as he discussed the squad he and his coaching team had arrived at following six gruelling hours of discussion and debate on Sunday, the New Zealander was at pains to underline the distinction between what one wants and what often actually happens.

“I don’t have any expectations of achievement. I have lots of hopes,” Schmidt said of what he would like to achieve at the World Cup, which for Ireland begins 17 days from now against Canada in Cardiff and preferably will not end until captain Paul O’Connell leads his side out in the final at Twickenham on October 31.