Joe Schmidt expects remaining Six Nations battles to go down to the wire

The medical update from the Scotland squad following their battle with France on Sunday will have given Ireland’s management plenty of pause for thought as they look ahead to their next Six Nations encounter in 11 days.

Last Saturday’s one-sided encounter against Italy in Rome, as Joe Schmidt’s side ran in nine tries for Ireland’s record Six Nations victory, may have been the perfect tonic following the self-inflicted defeat to the Scots on the opening weekend but the men in green will not by fooled into thinking the February 25 visit of the French to Dublin will be a similar Saturday afternoon stroll.

Scotland left Paris on Sunday night with a 22-16 defeat and their medical staff dealing with no less than four ongoing Head Injury Assessments and three soft-tissue injuries, not including the inevitable bumps and bruises from an extraordinarily tough afternoon at Stade de France. Two rounds and six games into the 2017 Championship and events at the Stadio Olimpico at the weekend are already looking like an anomaly. A 63-10 rout for Ireland has given them the only try bonus point to be seen so far on the league table, while Wales, who beat the Italians 33-7 in round one, are the only other side on the ladder with a positive points difference in double figures.