“Iain was the closer of the two; Iain could probably have played on Saturday”, said Schmidt.
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It’s a notable milestone for Warren Gatland this weekend too, as the former Connacht, Ireland and Wasps coach will take charge of his 100th match in charge of Wales. “You don’t suddenly replace world-class players”.
“They are a very good attacking side as well as defence and they squeeze you and force errors”.
Dan Biggar will line up for Wales against Ireland on Saturday – helped by repeated sessions in an oxygen therapy unit watching the American legal drama series Suits.
“The maul try that got penalised, it doesn’t matter now, but when you’re playing the top teams it’s down to fine margins”.
Twenty two-year-old Porter comes in for his first Six Nations start in the game. He’s taken to tighthead and global rugby really well. Never mind the largely infertile years of the 80s and 90s, in a land of romantics weaned on tippy-toed tormentors there is a certain way of winning, never mind Wales have always been capable of reductive rugby in the pursuit of victory.
However, Schmidt will not be concerned by the potential Championship decider on St. Patrick’s Day at this stage. “This weekend is about the game, it’s about the players and the result”.
Ireland have their own injury worries to contend with.
It was claimed earlier in the week that both Furlong and Henderson were “meeting their markers” after suffering hamstring injuries in the win over Italy. He was expected to miss the first three rounds of the Six Nations.
This is a significant blow both for Ireland and for Leinster’s hopes in the European Champions Cup. Meanwhile Robbie Henshaw was ruled out of the rest of the tournament with a shoulder injured.
“When they play that game effectively, when they use their one-off runners effectively and get some success from cross-kicks, that’s what they’re good at doing”.
Saturday’s match is likely to be closely fought.
“What he brought to Irish rugby and the amount of times he played is a feat in itself”.
Replacements: Elliot Dee, Wyn Jones, Tomas Francis, Bradley Davies, Justin Tipuric, Aled Davies, Gareth Anscombe, George North.
The influential fly-half was seen receiving treatment to his lower back from one of the physios. “They play through lots of phases, but we’ve conceded the least points in the competition so far”. Ireland have won nine consecutive games coming into this contest and their only defeat in the last 12 home matches came against New Zealand. Johnny Sexton, 9. Conor Murray. If it’s dry, we have to score tries.
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“There is a bit of history (Gatland and Ireland) and if there is a grudge match in the Six Nations then this is it”, Horgan said. There are still four teams who can win this Championship.
