Joe Schmidt not looking past Paris

Joe Schmidt will head into his fifth Six Nations championship as Ireland head coach admitting he has not looked past Saturday’s opening showdown in Paris.

The pre-championship chatter may all be about whether Ireland are NatWest 6 Nations favourites, as England head coach Eddie Jones has playfully suggested against the belief of the bookmakers, and various pundits are predicting a return to the winner’s enclosure for the men in green for the first time in three seasons.

Yet Schmidt is more concerned with the threat France pose in delivering a repeat of last year’s opening-day defeat at Murrayfield when Scotland destroyed Irish optimism at the first hurdle.