A WEEK after Ireland’s dream of back-to-back Grand Slams had been ground into the Aviva turf by England, Irish coach Joe Schmidt admitted he could see a difference in his team’s attitude ahead of yesterday’s clash at Murrayfield.
“To be honest, it’s not even something you want to be able to say, but there was a definitely a rise in temperature, definitely an increase in energy. And it’s hard to put your finger on why we just lacked that last week,” conceded Schmidt who was pleased with the way Ireland handled the loss of their playmaker, World Player of the Year Johnny Sexton, during the first half to head and ankle injuries.
“Johnny failed an HIA in the lead-up to our second try,” Schmidt confirmed, adding that Sexton had also been stamped on.
“He hit the ground quite hard but he’s pretty good now. We are always going to err on the side of caution with those just because we want to look after people.
"But he copped a stamp, yes, but I don’t even think it was a Scottish foot – I think it was one of our guys who tripped over him.
“He got one knock, then another. It was a little bit accumulative. He got a stamp on the ankle, and when they went on to treat that the just decided he wasn’t 100 per cent and that they needed to do an HIA.”
The Irish No 10 appeared to have been targeted for special attention by the Scots, although the Ireland coach felt that was nothing out of the ordinary. However, he complimented his stand-off with his bravery to make the telling pass for Ireland’s second score.
“He gets that because he is who he is,” Schmidt conceded. “That’s going to happen.
"He probably knew he was only going to play 20 minutes so he tried to jam it all into one quarter,” he joked.
“He certainly got into a few contact situations, but his pass release to get Jacob (Stockdale) to get that space, in the set play, was perfect.
“We hadn’t used (the play) before. We felt Scotland would expect us to carry around the corner and for Johnny to come back and strike on that side of the ruck, we thought might be an opportunity – though you can never say that for certain.
“There was no better man to get it in his hands than Jacob. I thought he looked quick and strong today and created the opportunity for us to get the first try as well.”
However, for Schmidt, it was more about getting the very basics right, compared to how they fell apart against England.
“I thought our set-piece was very strong, and the line-outs were very good, when we got some line-outs. We were probably a bit unlucky with the mauls, but our scrums were good initially until it turned into a bit of a spinathon.
“Our defence was good. I saw a stat that 34% of the first half was spent in our 22, and we didn’t have the ball and that was massive for us.”
Ireland captain and hooker Rory Best praised his department and Sexton’s replacement, Joey Carbery.
“The boys in the front five put a lot of work in and when you have a pretty good day there, it’s satisfying.
“Joey is benefiting greatly from being down in Munster. You can see him growing in to the game."
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here