Six Nations: Can Ireland block out the talk and walk the walk?

Life inside the bubble. There’s a lot to be said for it when you’re a national team coach, writes Simon Lewis

Like noise-cancelling headphones, the bubble forms a protective layer around a coach’s senses, drowning out the cacophony of radio and TV pundits and blinding his eyes to the seemingly endless column inches that would otherwise bombard him with advice, friendly or otherwise.

Ahead of this season’s Six Nations, Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt will have made sure to avoid the clamour for Leinster midfield prodigy Garry Ringrose to be handed his Test debut. He will have done his best to evade the media’s beauty contest for the captaincy and ignored all talk of who will lead the Lions on tour to his native New Zealand in June 2017.