Joe Schmidt paid tribute to Paul O’Connell after the news that the legendary Munster man will never play for Ireland again.
The Irish coach spoke to Irish Rugby TV about the loss of O’Connell, admitting that his presence and his ability to lead by example will be sorely missed.
“It’s a quiet presence that takes up a lot space. He physically is a big man, but his influence on others doesn’t have to be stated. His influence is very much demonstrated by what he does and because he does it, everybody else does.”
Schmidt then addressed losing Jared Payne, who was also injured during the match against the French.
“There was a lot of feedback about Jared Payne, mainly because of few people who hadn’t done their analysis didn’t understand enough about the game to understand what he brought to the game.”
“The players really spoke about his value, about his communication, his defence, his decisiveness, his ability to carry the ball forward, his quality of his passing, his decision-making, all those elements you want in the middle of your back line.”
While he conceded that Peter O’Mahony’s loss would also hit the team hard, particularly after his stunning performances in their 2015 Six Nations Triumph.
“I don’t think we would have won the Six Nations this year without Peter O’Mahony. I thought his effort in Scotland was immense, his ability to take ball in the air, his ability to carry it forward, his lineout intelligence and physical capability were incredibly important to us.”
Check out the full interview below.
