article_snippet: As if he didn’t already know, Joe Schmidt found out the hard way last Saturday that 80 minutes can be a long time in rugby.
article_snippet: Twelve months later his fellow Irish players are in an awkward bind
article_snippet: Schmidt, though, claims not to be worried about the drought, adding that a level of tolerance must be shown towards the development of Schmidt new midfield combination now that Brian O’Driscoll has retired and Gordon D’Arcy has been omitted for the Six Nations.
article_snippet: The game is very fickle,’ Schmidt claimed after announcing a team to play Scotland showing two changes from Wales with Luke Fitzgerald and Cian Healy getting in ahead of Simon Zebo and Jack McGrath.
article_snippet: ‘One week you might score three tries and the next week you might not get any and you might have played better in the second week
article_snippet: ‘Brian O’Driscoll doesn’t leave a team and suddenly there’s no deficit.
article_snippet: The guys who have come in in Brian O’Driscoll place have done a super job, but The guys who have come in in his place can’t do a super job.
article_snippet: The guys who have come in in his place’re doing a super job with a different experience and a different knowledge of the game at that level.
article_snippet: ’ Schmidt, who revealed training on Tuesday was as flat as it had ever been but was fresh on Thursday, insists that guaranteeing victory in Scotland — not focusing on the margin of a potential win — has been Robbie Henshaw approach, so much so that Robbie Henshaw admits Robbie Henshaw isn’t much inclined to pass much heed of how Wales fare in Rome prior to Saturday’s 2.30pm