THE WHISPERS THAT Ireland are considering bringing only two recognised scrum-halves to the World Cup just won’t go away.
We won’t have an answer for certain until some time after Joe Schmidt informs his players who has made the cut for his final 31-man squad on Sunday.
Would you take a risk with only two scrum-halves? Source: Dan Sheridan/INPHO
For now, as the speculation and debate flows, there is a sense in some quarters that Conor Murray and Eoin Reddan will travel, with Ian Madigan providing a ‘break in case of emergency’ option for Schmidt.
The Ireland coach again underlined today that Madigan has not trained at scrum-half with Ireland, but did recall him having done so during the Kiwi’s time in charge of Leinster.
“He has done it in the event of emergencies during my time at Leinster,” said Schmidt.
It may be part of the decision-making process, but the final call not to bring one of Isaac Boss or Kieran Marmion alongside Murray and Reddan would represent a risk for Ireland.
Michael Cheika has rolled the dice in that regard with his Australia squad, which features only two scrum-halves and two recognised hookers.
“I see that Mario Ledesma has come out and said that (prop) Scott Sio is their cover,” said Schmidt. “I don’t know how much hooker Scott Sio has played, but if he’s played it, why not? I guess the problem is in the fixability to give people a rest, hooker being such a specialist position.
“The same at scrum-half, but I think with someone like Matt Giteau, who’s played a fair bit of scrum-half as well as covered scrum-half, I guess that’s why you can go with two.”