O’Driscoll needed to help shape Ireland’s future

Ireland’s Brian O’Driscoll holds the cup after his team defeated France in their Six Nations rugby match at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis.  (Reuters)By Paul Rees, The Guardian /London Joe Schmidt is spending no time basking in Ireland’s Six Nations success as he starts counting down to next year’s World Cup, a tournament in which they have never gone beyond the quarter-finals. Schmidt became the fourth coach to win the Six Nations in his first campaign in charge when Ireland’s second victory over France in Paris in 42 years took them above England on points difference. Unlike 2013, when Ireland failed to win their last four games after suffering a number of injuries, Schmidt used only 18 starting players in the five matches and he has Lions to return in Tommy Bowe, Sean O’Brien and Stephen Ferris. “I did anticipate having to use more than 18 players through natural attrition and with 10 Test matches before the lead-up to the World Cup, you can compromise the continuity that you are trying to build if you start leaving people out,” said Schmidt. “That is one of the questions we will be asking ourselves in the coming weeks and there will be some good competition for places. “At the moment what we have to do is review the Six Nations campaign as a whole, analysing what we did well and looking at the areas where we need to improve. The wider squad contributed massively in our training camps and they kept pressure on individuals.” One player Schmidt will need to replace is Brian O’Driscoll. The centre became the world’s most capped player during the Six Nations but is retiring at the end of the season after a 15-year international career. “The search for Brian’s successor started when I got the Ireland job,” said Schmidt. “We have known this day was coming for nine months and I have talked to Brian about it. “We’ve tried to bleed him dry this season and in camp he has sat down with Robbie Henshaw and Darren Cave, talking through things. They have profited from the time spent with him, while Jared Payne qualifies on residency in November and Luke Fitzgerald and Fergus McFadden will be in contention for the jersey.” Schmidt added: “We’d be delighted if Brian stayed reasonably close to the group because of the character he is, as well as the on-field intelligence he brings, but that is a decision he would make with his family. His focus now will be on recuperating for a couple of weeks and then targeting several massive games coming up for Leinster.” The fly-half Jonathan Sexton believes Schmidt was the difference between Ireland winning the title and finishing among the also-rans as they turned last year’s fifth-place finish into top position for the first time since 2009. “The Leinster lads think very highly of him after the success he had there and the ones getting to know him for the first time this year have the same opinion,” said Sexton. “I think if Joe had been coaching France against us on Saturday they would have won: we had the best coach in the competition and no stone was left unturned in our preparation.”