Joe Schmidt offers mixed news on two pivotal Irish players

Joe Schmidt has offered different prognoses on these two key players.

One of the biggest shocks to come out of Tuesday's media briefing at Carton House was the unavailability of both Jonathan Sexton and Peter O'Mahony. The pair suffered calf and hamstring injuries respectively and it immediately brought about debate surrounding the durability of Ireland's first choice out half. There is no doubt that both players are a huge loss to Ireland considering their respective experience and the fact they are both unplayable when they bring their best. However, in O'Mahony's case, the blow was a little better received considering the plethora of depth in the back-row available to Schmidt. In the case of Sexton, however, he truly is indispensable and that is no disrespect to Paddy Jackson who has acquitted himself excellently in games against South Africa and also in the November series against the world champions, New Zealand and Australia. For Ireland to have hopes of securing a third Six Nations title in four years, you would think that Sexton will need to play a part, especially in the final run-in against the likes of France, Wales and England. Joe Schmidt, addressing the media today at Ireland's squad announcement in Carton House, offered the likely time frame in which we will see both players return.

“Johnny Sexton is an outside chance, but Peter O'Mahony is highly unlikely for Italy."

With a two week break penciled in between the Round 2 and Round 3 clashes with Italy and France, that may be enough time for O'Mahony to overcome his hamstring injury. O'Mahony, however, has enjoyed a relatively injury-free season for Munster so when it comes to Sexton, you can understand that the player is experiencing a significant level of frustration, especially since he spent a period of time out of the game in the Santry Sports Clinic in order to reduce his risk of soft tissue injuries.

“There's no one more frustrated than Johnny himself. He was incredibly motivated for this championships," said Schmidt. “For us he's probably played 82 minutes in the last eight Test matches, so for us it's a real frustration.But in the Six Nations campaigns that I've been involved in, Johnny has dominated our number 10 position, so we're still hopeful he can come back in and do that for us."

When quizzed on whether Sexton's injury record is a concern going forward, Schmidt said it's more a case of bad luck rather than anything too serious.

“Not really. I don't think there's many players that don't go through a period of injury and a little bit of bad luck. It was a very minor injury going into the Castres match and it just triggered an extension of that injury. “Things (injuries) tend to ebb and flow a bit, but hopefully they will flow a bit better in the back-end of the championship."

With Ireland's toughest matches coming towards the end of the tournament, Schmidt will hope that Sexton regains fitness in time for the crucial run-in.