Schmidt denies Ireland playing 'one-dimensional' rugby
Ireland coach Joe Schmidt has disagreed with the notion that his side is playing one-dimensional rugby in this Six Nations campaign, which continues on Sunday when England provide the opposition at the Aviva Stadium.
Ireland have scored just two tries in 160-plus minutes against Italy and France. They failed to manage a single line break last time out against the French when the kicking abilities of Jonathan Sexton and Ian Madigan kept the scoreboard ticking over.
“That's disconcerting,” Schmidt laughed when the word boring was used. “We’ll let other people make those assertions, that a game plan is whatever it is. If you look across the stats the teams are similar in the amount of kicking they have done or ball they have transferred.
“There are a lot of big men on a pitch that isn't that big, despite how it looks from the stand. There's not a lot of room out there and I believe you have to be three dimensional in attack rather than one dimensional, especially against England.”
Schmidt’s team selection, revealed Friday lunchtime, followed expectations with Jordi Murphy for the injured Jamie Heaslip the only alteration to the first XV. Tommy O’Donnell moves up to the bench while Eoin Reddan also comes in for Isaac Boss among the reserves.
Murphy’s inclusion was well flagged but Schmidt admitted that the brains trust had also grappled with the possibility of moving either Peter O’Mahony or Sean O’Brien from the flanks into the vacant number eight slot.
“We did and we talked about it. We just felt it was best to go with Jordi who played there in the game against Argentina in South America during the summer. He also played there against Italy in the first round of the championship and we felt Jordi played very well against Italy.”
The promoted man has been building a decent reputation for himself with Leinster this last number of seasons, but Murphy remains something of an unknown quantity off the pitch where his media and other public speaking duties have been light.
“He's very quiet,” said Schmidt. “Doesn't say a lot, just gets on with the job. He gets on with people and he's a workaholic around the pitch. Whether that's with his carrying, clearing out or making tackles on the defensive side.”
Elsewhere in the pack, Cian Healy has again been detailed to bench duties as he continues to return to full fitness after a lengthy stint out with injury. That means Leinster colleague Jack McGrath again starts at loosehead prop.
Felix Jones also retains his place as number 23 despite the suspicion that Luke Fitzgerald or Keith Earls would be promoted to the second wave – however harsh that would have been on Jones – and Schmidt admitted there were options galore there.
“And Dave Kearney,” he added. “All three guys were pressing for inclusion. Keith Earls was training incredibly sharply and Luke has done really well. One of the things with Luke is that it could have potentially given us three left footers in the back field, which wouldn’t have been an ideal balance.”
With O’Brien, Healy and Jonathan Sexton sure to improve as they bank more and more game time, and Schmidt able to put out a remarkably settled team three rounds into the competition, Ireland are in an enviable position.
“It's great. We will miss Jamie's experience," said Schmidt. "He is a big game player with that temperament and experience that he brings and that is one of the massive challenges for Sean and Peter to make up for that.
“At this level, experience does make a big difference in terms of how organised they can be.”
Ireland: R Kearney; T Bowe, J Payne, R Henshaw, S Zebo; J Sexton, C Murray: J McGrath, R Best, M Ross; D Toner, P O’Connell; P O’Mahony, S O’Brien, J Murphy.
