Joe Schmidt backs Ireland to perform amid burnout concerns
Monday 6 June 2016 12:55, UK
Head coach Joe Schmidt has dismissed fears of his players suffering burnout as he prepares his Ireland side for their 15th Test of the season.
When Ireland's three-game tour of South Africa concludes in Port Elizabeth on June 25, those who were at the World Cup will have been constantly on the pitch for almost the entire calendar year, but Schmidt insisted his side have actually played less rugby than last season.
Ireland arrived in Cape Town on Monday without key players such as Sean O'Brien, Cian Healy, Tommy Bowe, Peter O'Mahony, Rob Kearney, Luke Fitzgerald and Johnny Sexton and there are doubts about their ability to perform after such an arduous season.
Schmidt conceded that the World Cup season may have been a long one, but insisted his players were mentally and physically ready for the South African Test.
"From my perspective, our game minutes are down this year so our players have actually played a little bit less this year compared to last year," said Schmidt.
"It's a World Cup year - any year post-World Cup, I agree, that season is long.
"By the time you take the pre-season, the four warm-up Test matches, and as soon as you're playing matches at a high level, they're more attritional mentally as well as physically because you've got to really extend yourself because you know your opponent is at a very high level.
"From that perspective, it is tough."
The exit of the three provinces involved in the European Champions Cup at the pool stages does mean Schmidt's players' workload in recent weeks has been managed.
Schmidt has had to welcome new faces into his squad with so many absentees and said he is relishing the opportunity to broaden his squad with Connacht pair Tiernan O'Halloran and Matt Healy the prime examples.
"From the coaches perspective, we're incredibly excited about the opportunity this gives us," he said.
"If there are guys missing, I'm going to know more about Tiernan O'Halloran, more about Matt Healy in a week-to-week environment.
"I've been down to Connacht. I've seen them train. I've certainly seen them play a lot of times.
"But you get to know a player more and you see him slot in and you say, 'there's the level, here it is now, how will he go? Gee, you're coping really well'.
"That's another stride you can take, so this is a really good opportunity for us.
"One of the things a lot of people reference is the depth of our playing pool. I think this is a really good opportunity to extend that depth and find out more about players.
"What better time to do it when you've got time to build on those players you see showing you promise."
Ireland have never beaten the Springboks on South African soil in seven attempts and while members of the set-up have declared their desire to win the series, Schmidt is fully aware of the challenge ahead.
While South Africa's new coach Allister Coetzee has selected a new-look squad, the Ireland coach is expecting a ferocious battle.
"I think some of the media comment is that they are going to be a little bit more expansive," he said.
"I thought Heyneke Meyer had them mixing their game up a little bit anyway. I don't expect anything massively different, there is a number of the same personnel there.
"Anywhere they're inexperienced they've got great talent and where they are experienced they've got great talent. That's part of what is the excitement and the challenge."
