Hardly a day goes by without someone airing their tuppence worth about Johnny Sexton's health. Eddie Jones' pre-match jousting and winding-up took a new, somewhat unpleasant twist yesterday when he brought Sexton's parents into the equation but if it is exasperating for Joe Schmidt, he did a good job of disguising it on foot of unveiling his revamped hand for the rendezvous at Twickenham.
Having announced his team, Jones said: “Sexton is an interesting one. They’ve talked about him having a whiplash injury, which is not a great thing to talk about. I’m sure his mother and father would be worried about that. Hopefully, the lad’s all right on Saturday to play.”
This apparently off-the-cuff remark led to a barrage of questions about the Ireland outhalf, and the England head coach did appear to row back a little when subsequently speaking to the daily newspapers.
“The only thing I’ve suggested is that if they say he’s had whiplash injuries, then I’d be worried about him. That’s all I’m suggesting. We’ve got medical staff here, the best medical staff in England, and we’ll make the best decision for the player. I’m sure Ireland have done the same.”
Jones grew exasperated about repeated questions concerning Sexton and the possibility of targeting him, to which he said: “Not necessarily. Sexton is not a weak defender. He’s a big boy. He’s twice the size of George Ford. I’m sure he can look after himself. He’s hardly a shrinking violet.”
Asked if it was irresponsible of Jones to talk about Sexton in this manner, Schmidt said: “I think a number of people have spoken about it. I didn’t see the comments, that’s why I wouldn’t address them directly but I just think that we’re less affected by them.
“The thing that any scaremongering or any criticism does, is that players do have families, friends and that network tends to ripple out into the community and it’s never great, because I think then that inevitably does rebound into the environment and can cause a little bit of anxiety for the player; nothing to do with how fit and able they are, but just that other people are worried about them and maybe that’s a distraction that can start to hamper preparation. I’d like to think that’s not the case.”
Debuts
As forecast, Schmidt has granted debuts to Josh van der Flier and Stuart McCloskey in making five changes to Ireland’s starting line-up from their last outing in Paris. With four players hors de combat from that game, Donnacha Ryan, Mike Ross and Keith Earls also return to the starting XV, with Cian Healy, the uncapped Connacht lock
Ultan Dillane
, Rhys Ruddock and the fit-again Simon Zebo promoted to the bench.
“The guys who have been selected really merited the opportunity,” said Schmidt. “We’re a little excited and a little apprehensive to see how that all works out.”
McCloskey’s partnership with Robbie Henshaw, who moves to outside centre, provides Ireland with probably the biggest midfield they’ve ever fielded. “Yeah, it’s bizarre isn’t it?” smiled Schmidt, who nevertheless highlighted McCloskey’s passing abilities. “We’d like to think that he can bring more to the role than just being used to carry the ball forward as a blunt instrument.”
“With Robbie, he offers those same things, he’s got a super passing game and some of those nuances about the timing and opportunity of passing or carrying, or changing an angle, they build a little bit as players get more experience and understand more about their role and the more time they spend together.”
Schmidt acknowledged that Henshaw was assuming the game’s toughest defensive position, but suggested he’ll have learned from playing alongside Jared Payne. Ireland have lost on four successive visits to Twickenham, the last two under Schmidt’s watch, which has taught him one primary lesson.
"It's hugely dangerous to start poorly. Last year, they were up 12-3 very early on and it could have been 20-3. They blew us off the park in the first 20 minutes and we were easing our way into World Cup preparation and I don't think you can afford to be caught on the back foot in the manner that we were last time we were there."
“The time before, it wasn’t too dissimilar. They went very, very close to scoring early on. I thought it was an unbelievably good Test match . . . While both teams didn’t quite capitalise on a number of chances, the quality of the Test match was maybe even world class, to coin a phase,” added Schmidt, who disputed Jones’ assertion that England lacked any world-class players.
Physical
“My expectation is that they are going to be physical, that they are going to start fast, that they will be well-coached and cohesive and that they have a real continuity of selection,” he added. “There has been very few changes in the last three weeks and they have been more tinkering than wholesale . . . if you go back to the two previous visits that we’ve had, it’s very similar personnel.”
Indeed, whereas England retain 12 of their starting XV from Ireland’s 19-9 win in the Aviva last season, Ireland retain eight. Yet Ireland have the older side (average 28.8 as against 26) and have more caps (621 in the starting XV to England’s 512).
