By Grainne McGuinness and Shaun Cronin
Ireland head coach insists that every match and opponent in the World Cup must be treated with respect, but will use next week’s game against Romania to give more of the squad some game time.
After yesterday’s victory against Canada, he was asked if the opening had affected his selection plans for next week’s match.
“I don’t think too much has changed in terms of the Romania game because we came through unscathed,” he answered.
“So there will be some guys who go back out and some guys who come in, and that was probably always our intention.”
With tougher battles against Italy and France ahead, Schmidt wants to get as many of the 31-man squad as possible time on the pitch.
“We’ll utilise, probably not the full breadth, but a fair bit of the breadth of the squad in those first two matches,” he said.
“There are some guys who haven’t had a lot of game time, the obvious one is Cian Healy. But there are a few other guys who could do with a bit more game time.
But as Japan’s shock victory over the Springboks proved, there are no guaranteed victories, and Ireland’s coach will ensure his team are not complacent going into the game against Romania next week.
“Through these first two games the idea would be for them all to get some game time to be prepared for the back end of the pool.
“But we have to be conscious that every match is going to be tough.”