Tuesday 27 August 2019 19:11, UK
Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt has said there are no excuses for his side's 'unacceptable' performance at Twickenham on Saturday, as they suffered a record-breaking 57-15 defeat to England.
In a change to the normal schedule for the Ireland camp where the Kiwi would speak to the press once on a Thursday after a team announcement, Schmidt addressed the media himself on Tuesday.
After a magnificent 2018 in which Ireland secured a Grand Slam, series victory in Australia and Test win over New Zealand in Dublin, 2019 has proven far more challenging.
The squad were comprehensively beaten at home by England and away to Wales in the Six Nations, while they also put in one of their worst displays under Schmidt when beating Italy in Rome. Saturday was the first occasion many Irish players had to wear the jersey again, but the side conceded eight tries in a rout.
"It's an unacceptable result for us, it's a performance beneath where we'd like and beneath where we need to be," Schmidt told the media on Tuesday. "The whole group are very conscious that we have a short period of time to accelerate what is part of a progression.
"We looked flat, we looked slow and we didn't adjust and probably didn't take some opportunities that were available, but to throw everything out would be a mistake.
"Nothing mitigates losing the way we did, we are not going to make excuses. We know where we are in our progression. At this time in the cycle you get imbalanced results, teams are in different stages. England have had good clarity, they've named their 31-man squad. They know where they're at.
"There will be a number of changes this weekend. We're in a building phase, a clarification phase. Once this weekend is over, selections are done."
One key area which let Ireland down at Twickenham over the weekend was their lineout, with six going awry. As such, 37-year-old hooker and captain Rory Best has come in for particular criticism this week, with speculation his place in the World Cup squad could now be under threat.
"If there is external noise of that nature, there's no internal noise of that nature," Schmidt said of Best. "At this stage there are no decisions that have been made of that nature.
"If guys perform better than any other player that played last weekend, there is always a contest."
On the injury front, Schmidt confirmed that scrum-half Conor Murray has passed all his HIA tests but is unlikely to be involved against Wales in Cardiff this weekend, while wing Keith Earls is dealing with tendonitis in his knee, making him a doubt.
The head coach added that Johnny Sexton is "stiff and sore", and though keen to play this weekend is unlikely to do so. Meanwhile, loosehead prop Cian Healy, who suffered an ankle injury on Saturday, is "bullish" about his chances of returning for the final pre-World Cup Test at home to Wales on September 7.
