Keith Wood feels queasy over Joe Schmidt’s scrum-half gamble

Keith Wood was a member of three Irish World Cup squads and he admits that the thoughts of going to the latest tournament with just two specialists in such a specialist position as scrum-half makes him uncomfortable.

Joe Schmidt threw that very curveball earlier this week by naming just Conor Murray and Eoin Reddan in his panel of 31 with that pair relying on the ever more versatile Ian Madigan as back-up for the event that starts in England later this month.

Surprise at news of the scrum-half situation was matched only by eyebrows raised at the omission of Ulster’s Andrew Trimble, with the winger falling foul of injury at the wrong time and thus paying the price in what was the most competitive department, the back three.