Seán O’Brien’s involvement against France next Saturday remains in doubt after damaging his hamstring while warming up ahead of Ireland’s 26-3 trimming of Italy in Rome.
"It was the very last thing he did in the warm-up," said Joe Schmidt.
“He put his foot down and it just slid out from him and he twinged his hamstring. His power is really good so it was a marginal decision at the time but we didn’t want to repeat what happened the last time when we did lose a few (in Rome in 2013). It was good that he was able to be replaced by Tommy O’Donnell in the manner Tommy played.”
A ready-made replacement and certainly fitter, the Tipperary flanker topped the tackle count (12), just shading Robbie Henshaw (11) and Jordi Murphy (9), yet Schmidt refused to rule O'Brien out just yet.
“I’d be quietly confident. We will scan him when we get back to Dublin probably tomorrow evening. We’ll have an update on Monday I would say when we can give specific feedback.”
But O’Brien has played just two games of rugby this season having undergone a second shoulder operation in 12 months. In stark contrast, O’Donnell merely transformed his Munster form of late into a green jersey.
He certainly put himself in prime position to remain either in the side or the 23, despite Jordi Murphy's excellent showing, if O'Brien and/or Jamie Heaslip do return.
“Tommy’s stats all year have been incredible,” said Paul O’Connell. “Sometimes powerful guys find it hard to combine the power with the fitness. He’s one of those rare guys who has both of them. I’ve seen it for Munster for the last few months. It seems like every time I get off the ground or look up he is carrying the ball or tackling someone. He’s had a great season.”
Some compliment from that man.
“A big part of his thing is how well he prepares so you would have no worries about him coming in at the last minute like that. Delighted to see him scoring that try as he makes those big carries for Munster all the time.”
But let’s move on. No point lingering on this game, especially considering what England did to Wales in Cardiff or what is coming to Dublin next Saturday.
Despite Ian Keatley and Murphy both growing into this contest, the return of Heaslip and Jonathan Sexton automatically brings Ireland to a higher plain.
“They have a lot of experience,” said O’Connell. “Johnny plays the captain’s role, Jamie is a former Ireland captain, current Leinster captain.
“But I think the way the squad has broadened in recent years because of injuries has been great for us. The depth of the squad, the competition that’s there is a great thing.”
Still, Schmidt heaped praise on the power game England unveiled at the Millennium stadium.
“I’d say between 20-30 per cent off,” said Schmidt of Ireland’s performance in comparison, even adding: “I don’t think we would have lived with them last night. I thought Wales were pretty good so for us we certainly need to up our game. I do think part of it was the pressure Italy put on us but I know we can do better than that and we are going to have to.
Schmidt added: “It’s hard to pick up where we left off two months after. We had six of the starting XV as we had this time last year so that in itself presents a challenge.”
In fact, seven players who started in Paris last March took the field in Rome - Rory Best, Mike Ross, Devin Toner, Paul O'Connell, Peter O'Mahony, Conor Murray and Rob Kearney - but the point holds.
Imagine everyone, somehow, gets healthy - Cian Healy, O'Brien, Sexton, Heaslip, Andrew Trimble, Luke Fitzgerald. Now that's some good looking team.
But Schmidt still took time to express satisfaction with the performances of less established men like O’Donnell, Henshaw and Murphy.
“It would be natural for the seven to be the top tackler. Robbie Henshaw put some very heavy shoulders in and stopped their momentum and he really put his hand up. Jordi Murphy’s work rate throughout was really impressive, he volunteered to carry a lot as well as tackle.
His stats are also very impressive.
“It was a workaholic performance from all three of those guys and that’s what we need. We wouldn’t be the biggest team around. We got to make sure that everyone is working really hard. I those three demonstrated that today.”
And, being the coach he is, he found plenty of areas of concern.
“I think the game went how a number of us expected it would; a little disjointed at the start, exacerbated by Seán not be available, there was a kick that went straight to hand, a charge down, an early forward pass, we had a bit of space on the edge and we put the ball down so we didn’t help ourselves. But at the same time we got into good field position where the Italian defence was very physical and difficult to break down.”
Keatley was guilty of that inaccurate crossfield kick, the charge down and forward pass, but the outhalf recovered to kick his goals in a solid Six Nations debut.
“Obviously he kicked 100 per cent on the tee,” said Schmidt. “In the game a couple of times he was a little bit nervous so we’ll look at that, we’ll talk about that but what you can’t take away is the experience he has gained from this game and how it will allow him acquit himself in the future.”
Keatley or Ian Madigan in reserve? Find out Thursday as the future is clouded by the deepening depth of Schmidt's squad.
