Bench players will have cheered Joe Schmidt

Joe Schmidt will today assess his injured players and walking wounded as he prepares for Saturday’s Test with Australia, the final game in this month’s Guinness Series.

Saturday’s 21-9 loss to New Zealand exacted a heavy toll on his playing pool with fly-half Johnny Sexton doubtful having been withdrawn after just 17 minutes at the Aviva Stadium with a hamstring issue. Robbie Henshaw, CJ Stander and Rob Kearney will also spend the week undergoing return to play protocols following head knocks during an intensely physical game with the All Blacks.

Yet Schmidt has been cheered by the contributions of those who have filled the breach already during the autumn Test window with Garry Ringrose, Paddy Jackson and Josh van der Flier plugging the gaps seamlessly at inside centre, fly-half and flanker respectively at the weekend.

Lock Iain Henderson also returned from injury off the bench while Ultan Dillane, Peter O’Mahony and Keith Earls are also in line to come back into contention for places to face the Wallabies.

“We’re going to potentially see some different personnel and it’s hard to assess a series when you go match by match because the personnel are quite different,” the Ireland head coach said. “Obviously there was success against Canada in that there were a number of guys (who got game time). I think the number of new caps was us trying to take an opportunity to have a bit of a look, and to work with a wider group.

“We’ll probably be afforded that opportunity to a degree again next week because we have guys who are knocked about, so as far as looking at the overall series, if you had said to me before the series you’d be two out of three going into the Wallabies, I probably would have taken it because that means we’d have to have beaten New Zealand in one of those two games. Considering we hadn’t done it in 30-odd times of trying in 111 years, you’d probably put your hand up and take one of those.”

Losing Sexton from the No 10 jersey would be a significant blow against an Australian side coached by Michael Cheika which held on to beat France 25-23 in Paris on Saturday night.

Yet Schmidt points to the playmaking position as one of growing depth for Ireland with Paddy Jackson having proven his worth in Sexton’s absence on the summer tour to South Africa and Joey Carbery enjoying an accomplished debut off the bench in Chicago.

“I think we saw in South Africa we’ve got guys who can step in. Remember that Johnny came off with 20 minutes to go in Chicago and Joey Carbery, who was in the Leinster academy at the start of the season, came on, with a tight scoreline, and had to negotiate through a period of 33-29 and finished off the game with us in the ascendency.

“Johnny’s important because of the preparation he puts in, because of his experience, because of how he impacts on the players in giving them direction. But I think you’ve always got to be looking at building other people.

“You only have to look back at the World Cup quarter-final to know that you are vulnerable. You lose five of your top guys and if one of them is in the hub there then you’ve got to be able to have somebody who will step in and do as good a job as possible.”