Simon Easterby: Recovering stars bring added edge

Sean O’Brien and Peter O’Mahony may not have agreed with it, but Ireland assistant coach Simon Easterby believes the decision to leave the pair behind when the squad flew out to Chicago early last week was wholly justified.

The scoreline at Soldier Field would clearly back that up but Easterby’s point was more layered. The opportunity for O’Brien and O’Mahony to bag significant game time via Leinster and Munster’s less taxing outings as they return to full fitness was central to Joe Schmidt’s thought process.

O’Mahony featured for 72 minutes against Ospreys, bringing his total to 272 across five games since returning from long-term injury at the start of October. O’Brien banked just under an hour away to Zebre on Saturday evening on what was his third appearance back in harness.