It is rare in Test rugby that a head coach gets to name an unchanged team but that is what happened twice today.
Both Wales and Ireland go into their Friday night Six Nations clash, in Cardiff, with the same XVs that started their last games.
Joe Schmidt named an unchanged team for the first time in this championship, with Rob Kearney proving his fitness in training and Garry Ringrose holding off the challenge of the returning Jared Payne.
Tommy Bowe, who featured in the opening day loss to Scotland, is the only new face in the squad that got the better of France last time out.
Asked why Bowe had jumped ahead of Craig Gilroy and Andrew Conway to make the Ireland bench, Schmidt said he had ‘trained the house down’.
Schmidt admitted it would have been good to have Payne’s versatility off the bench but, in a way, he was happy enough not to be left with a tough selection call. He said:
“For Jared’s confidence, he could still be involved for Ulster at the weekend. That could, potentially, be a springboard for him.”
Schmidt highlighted a strong Garry Ringrose tackle on French hooker Guilhelm Guirado as a sign of the 22-year-old centre’s own growing confidence in the Test set-up. He said:
“I thought his tackle on Guirado on the 22 when he closed the space so quickly, those are the things we see as growth points for Garry.
“We want him to continue in that manner.”
Ringrose, let’s not forget, also forced a turnover by stripping the ball of a charging Louis Picamoles. No easy task that.
As for the roof open or closed drama, Schmidt said there has been ‘no decision’ made.
If the weather is fine, he argued, there would be little point closing the roof of the Principality Stadium.
