IRELAND HEAD COACH Joe Schmidt says Paddy Jackson took his demotion to the bench with a smile and expects the out-half to still play a key role against France on Saturday.
Jackson has been at the wheel for Ireland since Jonathan Sexton was forced off injured after 18 minutes of the November defeat to New Zealand.
The Ulster playmaker could not turn things around against the World Champions, but was an accomplished presence as Ireland overcame Australia, thrashed Italy in Rome and looked to have put Ireland in position for a comeback win with a try in Edinburgh, only for Scotland to pull away again.
With Sexton back in full training as of Tuesday however, he is straight back into the hot seat.
“We debated it,” Schmidt said after naming his team in Maynooth today, “we believe we get a good balance with having both players available. It’s very hard to come into a side and come off the bench when you haven’t played. It allowed Johnny a little bit more training time with the team this week, as against Paddy who’s already reasonably comfortable.”
While Sexton dominated Schmidt’s press conference, he was asked how Jackson reacted to handing the starter’s jersey back.
“He took it with a smile and said: ‘I’ll be ready when you need me off the bench,’” was the Kiwi’s brief response.
Based on how things have gone in the past, we’ll probably see both players in some positions at some stage in the game.”
“We know it’s going to be physical. it doesn’t matter who you play, it’s going to be physical. Two years ago, Johnny came back in against the French and played really well. He got some physical impacts that day and he hadn’t played for 12 weeks and he was super.
“That’s part of what you base your decision-making on: what have people done in the past? Can they replicate that in the future? If they’ve done it in the past, they’re more likely to replicate it.
“We are confident, Johnny’s confident as well. And I think that’s important.”
“He was frustrated missing those two (games against Scotland and Italy) and he’s excited by the opportunity. He takes a fair bit of responsibility. His experience contributes to that leadership and that’s something Paddy is starting to develop as well.”
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