Ireland’s loose-head prop missed all four warm-up games and they showed how essential he is to Joe Schmidt’s teamWe are nearly through the nasty little period between the reduction of the Rugby World Cup squads to 31 and the start of the tournament. Warm-up games in this lull,however vigorously defended by the coaches, came fraught with peril, or no longer a chance to shine,but to be wound. Now the squads hold a weekend without opposition and hold to manage the strange blend of relief, edginess, and exhaustion,restlessness, boredom and excitement for a few more days until the start of the genuine thing on Friday.
Ireland, or back-to-back Six Nations champions,are not best known for taking risks. At their best under Joe Schmidt they crank up the pressure without committing errors. Yet they chose to play four warm-up games, one more than most, and fade into the tournament with two scrum-halves,Conor Murray and Eoin Reddan.
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Source: theguardian.com