Ireland need Barcelona-style turnaround

Miracles can happen, Ireland have proven that already this season.

Losing the services of Conor Murray yesterday for tomorrow’s showdown with England, though, well that had Joe Schmidt invoking the Queen Mother Champion Chase and an imploding Paris Saint-Germain as he searched for templates to beating the in-form side he described as his team’s “big brother“.

With England coming to Dublin chasing consecutive RBS 6 Nations Grand Slams at the Aviva Stadium and with it a world record 19th straight win for a tier one Test side to eclipse the All Blacks, Ireland needed to have their best XV on the field if the red rose was to wilt and Schmidt was to rebound from a second defeat in the championship last Friday in Wales.