Schmidt ready to trim Ireland squad back

Ireland coach Joe Schmidt will today announce a pared down national squad for the Six Nations, which begins next Sunday when Scotland visit the Aviva stadium (3pm).

It’s likely to number about 32 players, reduced from the 44 named 13 days ago but that enlarged panel included those who helped the Ireland Wolfhounds to a 14-8 victory over the England Saxons at Kingsholm on Saturday.

There were no injury concerns arising from the match.

Jonathan Sexton, who shipped a couple of heavy knocks in an outstanding performance for Racing Metro 92 in their 25-5 win over Toulouse on Saturday, confirmed that while a little sore, he was fine.

Schmidt travelled to Gloucester to assess the form of several players and will have been heartened by individual performances as well as the collective display.

He will also have been delighted to witness the return of Richardt Strauss, a half-time replacement for Rob Herring, who has made a miraculous recovery from heart surgery a little over three months ago that threatened to sideline him for the remainder of the season.

His return, first for Leinster in the Heineken Cup and now the Wolfhounds, represents a remarkable rehabilitation given the time frame.

Schmidt said: "He's resilient and he's a little bit of an opportunist. Mike Sherry unfortunately had a knee injury, then Damien Varley was named to come into the squad and he took a bit of a knock as well. So it just allowed the door to open for Richardt.

Wide open

“I have to say, I coached Richardt for a number of years at Leinster, and know the quality of him and it’s fantastic that he is back available. . . .”

The Irish coach said he was facing some tough choices in terms of selection.

“There are some positions that the majority of people have a fair idea about and there are some positions that have been well documented that are very much wide open.

“Some tight decisions will exist for the next two weeks, and then we’ll maybe reshuffle the deck and go again, without trying to remix too many things and lose continuity”

Meanwhile Munster’s Paddy Butler, who suffered a neck injury that eventually forced the Ulster Bank League match between Blackrock College and Shannon at Stradbrook to be abandoned, was released from hospital on Saturday night.

Shannon’s honorary secretary Tadhg Crowe confirmed he had spoken to the player who returned to his Cashel home with his parents on Saturday and that everything was fine. “He told me the pain was nothing more severe than a bad crick in the neck.”

The Munster medical team will take over his rehabilitation.

There was no ambulance pitch-side in Stradbrook and some say it was about 45 minutes before one arrived. During that time Butler was covered in a foil blanket where he lay, attended to by a doctor from the home club. Blackrock spokesperson said that there was no explanation as to why the ambulance took so long to arrive.

There was a new regulation put in place by the IRFU’s All Ireland League committee this year advising that all clubs ‘should’ rather than ‘must’ have an ambulance on site.