Beirne in Schmidt’s ‘most difficult’ squad

Joe Schmidt described choosing the 32 players he will take to Australia next month as the most difficult process of his tenure as Ireland head coach but it is clear he has selected a squad with a series victory over the Wallabies at the top of his priority list.

Despite chatter about end-of-season rests for Johnny Sexton and the other British & Irish Lions who toured New Zealand last summer, Schmidt will go into the first Test in Brisbane in 17 days with the bulk of the squad who delivered the Six Nations Grand Slam in March as Ireland bid to extend their national-record winning streak to 13 internationals at Suncorp Stadium on June 9.

Just 16 months out from the World Cup in Japan, Schmidt has gone for an experienced and proven squad to lay down a marker that the second-ranked team in the world are worthy contenders for the Webb Ellis Cup. There are patently still boxes left to tick as the head coach hones the group of 31 players he is permitted to name in his World Cup squad with the cover at fly-half for Johnny Sexton uppermost in his thoughts since Ireland’s exit to Argentina at the quarter-final stage in 2015, when Sexton’s late withdrawal from the game in Cardiff meant throwing the number 10 jersey onto the shoulders of an unprepared Ian Madigan.