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Joe Schmidt looks ahead to the Six Nations

Thursday, January 29 2015 by SNTV
  • Intro:

    Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt looked ahead on Wednesday (28th January) to the Six Nations Championship and the defending champions' opening game against Italy in Rome.

    Script:

    SOUNDBITE: (English) Josef Schmidt, Ireland head coach:

    "I guess, looking back through the (2014 Six Nations') games, it reaffirms how fine the margins are. If their pass against the French, if Pascal Pape makes that pass back to Damien Chouly I think we probably finish third in the Six Nations, so on the back of one pass. So, yes, we know we got there by the skin of our teeth and we're going to try and, scrape our way through another one and be as competitive as we can be."

    SOUNDBITE: (English) Josef Schmidt, Ireland head coach (on opening opponents Italy):

    "I watched their first round game last year again against Wales and Wales are a very big, physical team and, with about 15 minutes to go, they were in the game, they were only five points off Wales and, Wales kicked a goal then and got a little bit of a buffer, but that's how competitive they were at the start of the.... of the tournament and they stayed competitive until probably those last couple of rounds where a couple of guys got injured as well. Last year we played them, they didn't have Sergio Parise, (Martin) Castrogiovanni came off very early, they didn't have (Alessandro) Zanni, and for us, (Italy fly half) Kelly Haimona is new in there, for us it's going to be a very different picture to what we saw last year in the Aviva (Stadium)."

    SOUNDBITE: (English) Josef Schmidt, Ireland head coach (on Ireland's injury worries, specifically Johnny Sexton and Conor Murray):

    "It really complicates things because the nine-ten (scrum-half/fly-half) axis is a bit of a hub of any team and that's where a lot of the information gets transfeRred and that will be a big challenge for us and I think, up front with guys like Cian Healy and Sean O'Brien and, even out the back with a few guys dinged up (injured), I don't think we're too different than other teams. It's just hoping that the guys who do step in can, can get comfortable as quickly as possible."

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