'Last year's results don't help you win anything this year... it puts a target on you'
Joe Schmidt has conceded Ireland have struggled to cope with the pressure of their stellar 2018. Ireland swept the board with a Six Nations Grand Slam last term and stunning victory over back-to-back world champions New Zealand in November.
All Blacks boss Steve Hansen installed Ireland as the world’s best team after Schmidt’s men saw off New Zealand 16-9 in Dublin – and then insisted the men in green could struggle under the weight of that tag.
Hansen has this week claimed Ireland have indeed failed to cope with that burden, and now Schmidt has accepted the sentiment with his men losing to England and labouring to wins in Scotland and Italy in this year’s Six Nations so far.
“Probably, the All Blacks are the only team who consistently stay at the top,” said Schmidt, ahead of Ireland hosting France in Dublin on Sunday. “You consider England, Six Nations Grand Slam, they get the Six Nations the following year, and the year after that they are fifth. How does that happen with most of the same personnel?
“It is one of those things that it is a little bit difficult. I know even talking to Franck Azema in Clermont, champions one year and 10th the next. How does that happen? It’s not apathy, it’s not overconfidence, I’m not sure how you might explain it. But there’s a real forward-thinking about the group.
(Continue reading below…)
“So what’s happened last year is certainly last year. Because last year’s results don’t help you win anything this year. In fact, if anything, I think Steve is suggesting it hinders you winning things this year. It certainly puts a target on you.
“There’s no way that people come here and don’t want to beat a team that’s ranked where we are or a team that achieved what we did last year. But for us, it’s all about what we can achieve. And not even this year, it’s what we can achieve in just over 48 hours’ time.”
Here's the Ireland team to play France on Sunday.#TeamOfUs #IREvFRA #ShoulderToShoulder pic.twitter.com/KTzjMrC0iM
— Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) March 8, 2019
British and Irish Lions flanker Sean O’Brien has been omitted from Ireland’s squad for Sunday’s battle with Les Bleus. The 32-year-old Leinster star has paid a hefty price for a below-par showing in Ireland’s patchy 26-16 victory over Italy in Rome, with Josh van der Flier starting in his stead at openside.
Fit-again Garry Ringrose starts at outside centre, with Robbie Henshaw still battling a dead leg, while Iain Henderson returns after finger trouble at lock and CJ Stander at number eight. Munster star Stander suffered a nasty broken cheekbone in Ireland’s opening-weekend 32-20 loss to England in Dublin but has recovered quickly to step back into Schmidt’s team.
Schmidt confirmed O’Brien’s omission was on form, with the Ireland boss excited by van der Flier starting in the back row. “With Sean, Jack Conan was going to be given the opportunity against Scotland and he didn’t get that, so we wanted to give him the chance,” said Schmidt.
“Josh van der Flier hasn’t let us down at all. So it’s a perfect opportunity to put him back in there, he’s very much keen and ready to go. As tempted as we were with (lock) Tadhg Beirne, he’s just been a little bit sore this week coming back from injury.
“He was in the mix but he’s going to get the weekend off, to come back in refreshed and train next week. Ultan Dillane has played very well for us, so we wanted to reward his performance in Italy.”
Comments on RugbyPass
“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
1 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
3 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
3 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
3 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
4 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
4 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to comments