Earls and Zebo get approval from Schmidt

Joe Schmidt has given Keith Earls and Simon Zebo a massive vote of confidence by saying the Munster duo had justified their selection in the Ireland World Cup squad’s most competitive unit.

Zebo, playing at full-back against Romania, was at his lively best as the Irish ran in six tries, sending out a wonderful skip pass to man of the match Earls for the second of a double that puts him level with the great Brian O’Driscoll as his country’s leading World Cup try scorer.

Schmidt admitted that back three positions were the most hotly contested in his squad, referring to the likes of Andrew Trimble, Fergus McFadden and Craig Gilroy, all of whom had not even made the 31-man World Cup panel.