VIDEO: World Cup starts here for Robbie Henshaw — and Ireland

Slowly, patiently, Joe Schmidt is moving his pieces into place for Ireland’s big push into the knockout stages of this World Cup.

While others all around this tournament are patching up their troops or resigning themselves to life without key components, the Ireland head coach is gradually getting his best matchday squad together, the outfit he believes can take his Six Nations champions past France next week and then with momentum into the quarter-finals and beyond.

A victory over Italy at the Olympic Stadium in London tomorrow will seal their place in the last eight and in naming his strongest possible side, Schmidt has finally got to deploy a previously missing link in his backline, inside centre Robbie Henshaw.