Ireland's Chicago clash against Italy triggers World Cup countdown
You can look at tonight’s Test between Ireland and Italy any way you like but do not tell Joe Schmidt and his team this is anything but an important moment in their careers as a World Cup looms large just 10 months from now.
Another detour to Chicago, two years on from a history-making day against the All Blacks, ahead of the Guinness Series on home soil has been described in some quarters as a money spinner and a contractual obligation.
The profile of both teams, led by Schmidt and Conor O’Shea, is light on international experience, in terms of cap numbers at least.
Yet Ireland head coach Schmidt takes issue with all of that. He has left the likes of Grand Slam-winning leaders Rory Best, Peter O’Mahony and World Player of the Year nominee Johnny Sexton, at home ahead of the Aviva Stadium appointments with Argentina and New Zealand and has instead picked a young matchday squad captained by Rhys Ruddock with only one player, loosehead prop Jack McGrath, who has more than 50 Test appearances to his name.
It is a team featuring first starts for full-back Jordan Larmour and lock Tadhg Beirne with potential debuts from the bench for fly-half Ross Byrne and outside back Will Addison. And there is a backline led by Joey Carbery in his fourth Test start which sees centre Garry Ringrose as its most experienced member on 14 caps.
Yet as Schmidt builds towards next September’s World Cup opening pool game against Scotland, this match will serve as a significant barometer of who is best placed to make up the balance of the 31-man squad for Japan. And beyond.
Having overseen training with the non-touring element of his group in Carton House this week, Schmidt flew into Chicago to join the matchday squad on Thursday and paid them a big compliment, predicting that this youthful collective had big futures in the national set-up.
#TeamOfUs
— Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) November 2, 2018
Joe Schmidt on the team selection for #IREvITA in @TheRugbyWeekend
Watch the full press conference here: https://t.co/Vt8leXqOhd#shouldertoshoulder pic.twitter.com/ljiEze7Ife
They may not have big numbers next to their names, he argued, but it was the quality of their performances in those relatively short Test careers that mattered much more to him. There are caps and then there are “big” caps.
“I certainly think you are going to see a lot of these guys play a lot of games for Ireland,” Schmidt said. “I’d like to think we have worked pretty hard to get the right personnel, and while Jack is the only starter on Saturday who is around the 50-cap mark, there are guys who have big caps.
“What I am saying is that caps aren’t all the same. Guys like Bundee Aki and Garry Ringrose, finishing off those Six Nations, those are big caps. Those are big experiences they can bring to the fore.
“Two years ago, Joey Carbery had his 21st birthday in Chicago Cut restaurant here, and he managed the last 20 minutes of a monumental day for us, a day that we still look back on fondly and I am sure he does. Sometimes there is a nice sense of him coming back to where it all started and hopefully taking another step.
“So while he would not have so many big caps starting, he has had some big opportunities.
“The last time we were in the USA (in June 2017), he started that Test match. Unfortunately, he got injured, but I thought he played well. He got two charged down kicks, but some of his other play was very good.
“He started against Fiji and he started that really big test in Brisbane and when he left the pitch it was 9-8 to us, so he didn’t let us or himself down in that context.
“Back row-wise, Josh van der Flier started the Six Nations for us at seven, Rhys Ruddock has played a lot of games for us, and Jack Conan started that last Test in Australia, so I know it is a little bit of an amalgam.
“But I hope it is an amalgam that works for us. I don’t know about (them playing for Ireland) 10 years (from now) but certainly, in the five-year cycle we might see, an immediate one year and the four years that follow, a lot of those guys will play a lot of games.”
It is also another big moment for Carbery, a first chance for Schmidt to reap the benefits of the fly-half getting his wish and playing regularly at 10 having left Leinster for Munster during the summer for that very reason.
“I think of all people, Joey can get the benefit of him playing 10. I think Munster probably have as well,” Schmidt said.
“I know that Johann (van Graan) is happy with him. Felix (Jones, Munster’s attack coach) is happy with him. And he’s happy that he is getting opportunities to kind of make mistakes and build from them, be involved in positive aspects of play and build upon them. So we are hoping that Saturday is an extension of that really.
“I think it’s one of the toughest positions, that if you’re not playing it regularly, because of the things you have to do, even outside of your actual personal involvements in the game, it’s making sure that other people have access to the game by getting them organised, by giving clear direction.
“So I hope for Joey on Saturday that having Bundee and Garry there will help him along a little bit. And the fact that he knows (scrum-half) Luke (McGrath) quite well.
“That still hopefully allow him to blend in and not have to take all the responsibility but demonstrate that he can take a fair share of it.” This is no box-ticking for Carbery or any of this unfamiliar-looking Ireland team, Schmidt has made sure of that. Countdown to the World Cup has commenced.
J Larmour (Leinster); A Conway (Munster), G Ringrose (Leinster), B Aki (Connacht), J Stockdale (Ulster); J Carbery (Munster), L McGrath (Leinster); J McGrath (Leinster), N Scannell (Munster), A Porter (Leinster); T Beirne (Munster), Q Roux (Connacht); R Ruddock (Leinster) - captain, J van der Flier (Leinster), J Conan (Leinster).
S Cronin (Leinster), D Kilcoyne (Munster), F Bealham (Connacht), D Toner (Leinster), J Murphy (Ulster), J Cooney (Ulster), R Byrne (Leinster), W Addison (Ulster).
L Sperandio (Benetton); M Bellini (Zebre), M Campagnaro (Exeter Chiefs), L Morisi (Benetton), G Bisegni (Zebre); C Canna (Zebre), T Tebaldi (Benetton); N Quaglio (Benetton), L Bigi (Benetton), T Pasquali (Benetton); M Fuser (Benetton), G Biagi (Zebre); J Meyer (Zebre), A Steyn (Benetton), R Giammarioli (Zebre).
O Fabiani (Zebre), C Traore (Benetton), G Zilocchi (Zebre), M Lazzaroni (Benetton), F Ruzza (Benetton), J Tuivaiti (Zebre), G Palazzani (Zebre), I McKinley (Benetton).
Nigel Owens (Wales).
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