This weekend, Ireland go into battle without two of their stand-out performers of the past four years.
The All Blacks were taken aback to learn Peter O’Mahony and Sean O’Brien would be watching their game against Ireland from the comfort of their own homes. In 2012 and 2013, the Munster and Leinster flankers made impressive impacts in close-run things against New Zealand.
Both men have missed an awful lot of rugby over the past 12 months but they were aiming to get back, fit and firing for these November Tests. All the sweat and tears were endured with one aim – the All Blacks at Soldier Field and the Aviva Stadium.
On Saturday, they will watch from afar as their countrymen try for their first Test win in 29 attempts [over 111 years] over a fierce New Zealand team.
Joe Schmidt has gone for CJ Stander and Jordi Murphy in his back row, with Josh van der Flier the back-up man. SportsJOE asked All Blacks coach Steve Hansen if he was surprised with Schmidt’s calls. He told us:
“Without being in the environment and understanding where those guys are and how they’re going, it’s not really for me to comment. Joe will have a plan, and his group will have a plan. Sometimes the logical thing that we see from the outside doesn’t happen because there is something bigger being looked at. Not only for today but for tomorrow.
“What it does tell you is that Joe has a lot of confidence in the guys he is picking, so that bodes well for Irish rugby.”Â
Just over an hour later, we had the opportunity to pose a similar question to Schmidt in the Skyline Room of Ireland’s Trump Towers base. He responded:
“It was a really fine-line call. They bring that experience and certainly bring a hard edge to the game as well.Â
“It’s always tempting to bring guys in but we just feel that the pace of this game is going to be very, very quick. We decided that we just needed those players that were sufficiently match-fit to try and do the job for us.”
Schmidt may be mindful of throwing O’Brien in against France back in February and watching on in frustrated horror when his hamstring gave out after just 24 minutes. He is not the sort of guy to get burnt twice from the same flame.
Many Irish fans would have been pinning a lot of our hopes on O’Mahony and O’Brien bringing the fight to New Zealand but perhaps Schmidt is playing the long game.
This either goes well for Ireland and the guys that start in Chicago will be lauded for decades to come. Or, we go back to a pretty feisty drawing board.
Colm O’Rourke and Pauric Mahony join Colm Parkinson on a packed GAA Hour that includes Dick Clerkin appreciation and Sean Cavanagh envy. Subscribe here on iTunes.
