World Cups have not been kind to Ireland – seven have yet to produce a semi-final – but when Joe Schmidt and his coaches sit down at their headquarters outside Dublin next week to consider the squad for this year’s tournament they will probably have the strongest hand of any side in the northern hemisphere.
Consecutive Six Nations titles suggest as much, but when Schmidt announced his starting XV to play Scotland on Saturday evening he confirmed it by picking 14 new faces from the side who ran out against Wales a week ago.
It is the kind of thing that gave offence in Dublin when the All Blacks did it to Ireland in the runup to the last World Cup in Europe. This time the reaction was more to do with the depth of talent available to Schmidt rather than any offence caused to a side humbled by Ireland the last time they met.
Then, on the final day of the Six Nations, Ireland embarrassed Scotland, confirming a championship whitewash by winning 40-10 at Murrayfield and then sitting back to see whether England could beat their points differential. They could not and two hours later the Irish were celebrating while the Scots were left to make their excuses.
Schmidt is hoping for better from Vern Cotter’s side on Saturday and said as much this week. The Kiwi, who has done little wrong since setting foot in Ireland, winning Heineken Cups for Leinster then lifting the national side to second place in the world rankings, also confirmed Irish disappointment that the Welsh did not put up more of a fight in that first warm-up before a packed Millennium Stadium.
“We probably didn’t get as much from the game as we would have liked because Wales looked a bit flatter than we were,” Schmidt said. “They just didn’t quite have the same energy levels and I understand why and there is a reason for that.
“It’s been a fairly tough five weeks, so last week leading into the Welsh game it was probably evident we’d rested our players a bit more. They got the opportunity to look a little bit sharper maybe.”
Wales looked to have left some of their energy behind in the Swiss mountains and in the broiling heat of Qatar. On Saturday the Ireland coach hopes Scotland will be inspired by the Glasgow effect – Gregor Townsend’s Warriors are the Celtic club champions. “The Scottish will be tough. The nature of the performances that Glasgow have given them, there is a real energy about them.”
There will need to be because there are at least six Irishmen who will be playing for their World Cup places. All over the squad there are issues to be settled if Schmidt and his fellow selectors are not to have too easy a job next week.
The side is stronger that the one who went to Cardiff with Sean O’Brien, Devin Toner, Tommy Bowe, Luke Fitzgerald and Jared Payne joining Mike Ross, an ever-present under Schmidt, from March’s Murrayfield side. That means 10 of the squad who clinched the Six Nations will be involved while Cotter has selected an entirely different backline and half-backs.
Scotland also have a new captain in their scrum-half, Henry Pyrgos, who insists his side are looking forward rather than back to that day in March. “I don’t think the guys will get bogged down trying to settle scores,” he said. “We all understand it was a really disappointing result.”
Not that Ireland will allow the thought to be dismissed that easily. The last time Scotland won in Dublin was in 2010, and Pygos has issues of his own quite apart from the welfare of those around him. The 26-year-old is a Pro12 winner with Glasgow but comes behind Greig Laidlaw and the young pretender, Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, in the queue for the No9 shirt.
“It’s how it is going to go,” said Pyrgos when his captaincy was announced. “Greig has been starting and Sam has been coming off the bench. I won the Pro12 but I wasn’t there with Scotland. I was happy with the way I finished the season, but ultimately we are all starting from scratch again now.”
Indeed they are with the side whitewashed in the Six Nations travelling to the home of the reigning champions led by a coach who has brought stability since his appointment in 2013, has lifted Ireland from eighth and has a 78% success rate, including wins over South Africa and Australia last autumn.
World Cup planning is also well advanced. Next week Schmidt will probably settle on his final 31 before adding a few names for the return against Wales, when he expects them to be more of a handful. Cotter, in comparison, is starting out on the games that will define his squad.
Ireland S Zebo; L Fitzgerald, J Payne, G D’Arcy, T Bowe; I Madigan, I Boss; D Kilcoyne, S Cronin, M Ross, D Tuohy, D Toner, J Conan, C Henry, S O’Brien (capt). Replacements R Strauss, M Bent, N White, P O’Connell, J Murphy, E Reddan, P Jackson, D Kearney.
Scotland R Jackson; S Lamont, R Vernon, P Horne, T Visser; G Tonks, H Pyrgos (capt); R Grant, F Brown, J Welsh, J Hamilton, G Gilchrist, B Cowan, H Blake, D Denton. Replacements R Ford, G Reid, M Cusack, R Harley, J Barclay, S Hidalgo-Clyne, D Weir, M Scott.
