Joe Schmidt underscores need for Ireland to deliver against Italy

For a team with supposedly little to play for in a tangible sense the heat will be on Ireland come 1.30pm at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday in a manner that has not been the case in Joe Schmidt's hitherto trophy laden tenure.

So it was that the Irish head coach on Thursday admitted that he is personally feeling the pressure to deliver a first win in this Six Nations.

"I sense it, I'll admit it to you, I really sense it. I know we have to win this weekend," he conceded after confirming the return of Jared Payne and Simon Zebo to a predictably more familiar looking Irish line-up at their Carton House base on Thursday.

“And I’m sure players sense it as well but it hasn’t been a topic of conversation because we can’t really control all the variables and the outcome.

“So what we’ve tried to say is, ‘right, here are some variables that we have to be really good at and we need to be prepared for,” he added, before citing the threat posed by Palazzani sniping around the fringes.

“We have to make sure our fringe defence is locked up there,” said Schmidt, who also pointed to the speed and power of Campagnaro, “one of the key tackle breakers for them”.

Hence, in part, the rationale for restoring Payne, whom Schmidt regards as Ireland’s key defender on the edges to the exclusion of 22-year-old Stuart McCloskey, whose potential game breaking abilities off the bench, like those of Craig Gilroy, have been overlooked from even the bench in preference for the dependability and versatility of Fergus McFadden.

So it is that the average age of the starting team has risen to 29.1 years, making them the oldest side to feature in the Six Nations this weekend.

Asked if this was a source of concern to him, Schmidt replied: “No, not overly. The age profile is also a stacked in the realm of few enough players that there are enough young players coming through that we will blood guys in. In my 2½ years we’ve used 66 players; 21 of them were uncapped. Sometimes I get confused about what else you need to build into developing players.”

Indeed, more so than previously has been the case too, Schmidt has found himself having to defend his selections. Maintaining that players are being granted opportunities at provincial level, Schmidt also noted: “I’ve been coaching professionally now for 15 years and I’ve seen a lot of young players really hampered by being thrust into an environment they are not ready for.”

They can lose their confidence and sometimes they don’t quite come back in the same way. “So it’s just about getting to know the players and trying to have a balance of opportunity and at the same time experience.”

The Irish head coach repeated his assertion that the bottom line for Ireland was a win.

“I think we have to get a win; that’s the bottom line. We’re judged on our results and we judge ourselves on performance but if our performance is good enough then you’ve got to be able to get the result at the end of it.”

Schmidt is perhaps mindful of what’s coming down the track as well as what this squad has gone through. After four winless games, Ireland will be fancied to win their remaining two matches at home to Italy and Scotland, after which they will be underdogs in all three tests away to South Africa as well as three of their four autumnal tests against New Zealand (twice) and Australia.

Describing this championship as “frustrating and disappointing”, Schmidt countered by saying: “But at the same time I’m still energised by the opportunity that we have left in this championship. If we win our two games, then we still have a chance to finish in the top half of the championship.

“Now, we don’t control all the elements of that; but there’s still lots to play for. There’s still lots for players to play for, there’s opportunities to travel to South Africa in the summer and then there’s a huge autumn awaiting us.

“In the context of what we’ve got coming up in 2016, there’s still so much to play for that it’s hard not to be enthusiastic and energised by it and that’s the next two weeks and beyond. This has been our most challenging championship in trying to put band aids on things a little bit, in trying to put things back together and having guys moving in and out of the team has made it more difficult.

“We’ve had the luxury of really good continuity through the last two championships and you show the benefit of that. The two teams that are playing this weekend with the chance of potentially putting themselves in pole position – an almost unbeatable position if England win – are the teams that have had super continuity right the way through and have had super continuity in the first place.”

Interestingly, he was unaware of the minimum target set for him and Ireland by the IRFU, whereupon his press officer clarified that the union budget for a fourth placed finish, and anything beyond that a bonus. Which is about where Ireland are aiming now.

Jacques Brunel has made four changes from the starting Italy XV which lost to Scotland last time out, promoting Davide Giazzon (making his first Championship start), Guglielmo Palazzani and Edoardo Padovani from the bench, while George Fabio Biagi is recalled into the second row. Missing are the injured trio of Leonardo Ghiraldini, Marco Fuser and Edoardo Gori, with Kelly Haimona dropping to the bench.