Goodness, that was a hectic few hours.
Us journalists are normally drip-fed the Ireland team well in advance, in snug, plush Carton House. There was considerable harrumphing, then, when the embargoed Irish XV did not land an hour before its official announcement.
There are usually a couple of wise heads in the room that have a pretty good idea of how Ireland would line out. This afternoon, no-one seemed to have a clue.
When Leinster named their squad to face Zebre, shortly after midday, the plot thickened. Sean Cronin and Fergus McFadden included.
“What does it all mean?”
“Simon Zebo must be fit, so”
“There’s no bloody coffee left!”
Then, five minutes before Joe Schmidt arrived, we got the teams. “Holy shit, there’s Dave Kearney on the wing…. wait, what? There’s Fergus!”
Frantic rewrites and rejigged headlines. Many of us were still clacking away when Joe took his seat. Breathless stuff that even took the IRFU Twitter account on the hop.
Apologies to @TommyoDonnell87 – we left him out of the Ireland team! Tommy is on the bench instead of @RhysRuddock pic.twitter.com/vC6GUnmDCr
— Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) February 11, 2016
We feel your pain.
Annoying Mike McCarthy
Both Johnny Sexton and Jack McGrath had their stats 100% correct as they confidently recited Ireland’s Six Nations record in Paris.
Sure, France have not beaten Ireland in almost five years but our record in Paris is not too hot. Without prompting, both McGrath and Sexton told us that Ireland had only won twice there since 2000.
I gave Mike McCarthy the chance to trot out the statistic during our mixed zone chat. In retrospect, I was being a complete smartarse.
SportsJOE: “So Mike, how many times have Ireland beaten France in Paris in the Six Nations?”
McCarthy: “One, I think. And one draw.”
SportsJOE: “Two wins and a draw.”
McCarthy: “Yeah, two wins… thanks.”
If looks could kill.
Media conspiracies
Jack McGrath did not buy for a single second that Mike Ross or Cian Healy were coming back into the selection mix this week.
The Leinster loosehead keeps his place in the front row, along with Nathan White, despite a torrid time against the Welsh pack. Never in doubt. He told us:
“Those guys [Cian and Mike] haven’t played a lot of rugby and it’s more important for them to get a good 60 minutes against Zebre.
“I don’t think Joe was ever really thinking about calling them up, to be honest. It was probably somebody in the press saying it and it snowballed.”
Bad news for Paddy Jackson fans
No impish Ulster outhalf in the squad again. Schmidt tells us Paddy Jackson would not be flying out to Paris as an injury reserve. The head coach said:
“Johnny’s fully fit and we’ll let Paddy go back and play for Ulster if there’s time enough for them to adjust their group. And probably that keeps him ticking over.
“He is going really well with us, but when we’ve got so many variables in play at the moment with the backline and Rob Kearney coming back.
“But Ian Madigan just giving us that flexibility on the bench is probably just allowing him to stay ahead of Paddy there.”
We may yet see young Master Jackson, against Italy. Poor scamp.
Add us on Snapchat – SportsJOE.ie – for all the latest from Paris on a crucial Six Nations weekend for Ireland.
WATCH: Liverpool BOTTLED the title race 🤬 | Who will win the Premier League?
