Joe Schmidt challenges rookies to think for themselves

Joe Schmidt has challenged his Test rookies to survive on their wits, not rely on the experience of those around them, after naming an inexperienced backline to face old foes Argentina tomorrow.

It will not just be the jerseys that are green at the Aviva Stadium when Ireland meet the Pumas for the first time since that fateful 43-20 World Cup quarter-final defeat in Cardiff in November 2015. From numbers 11 through to 14, the collective cap count of four for the two wings and two centres suggests a certain rawness at this level also.

That is both by accident and design, with Leinster’s Adam Byrne long since pencilled in for a Test debut in this final encounter of the 2017 Guinness Series, opposite fellow wing Jacob Stockdale, so impressive in winning his third cap a fortnight ago in the record 38-3 win over South Africa.