A potential six-week suspension for Devin Toner was a contributory factor in the decision not to include the long-serving Leinster and Irish lock in Ireland’s 31-man squad for the 2019 World Cup, according to Joe Schmidt. “We hadn’t noticed the incident at the time, but we reviewed the incident and it didn’t look good,” writes Schmidt. Ultimately, given the chance to do 2019 all again, Schmidt admits he allowed the World Cup to become too distracting from the start of the year. Penning his final diary entry from his home in Churchtown on Sunday, November 3rd, the day after the World Cup final, Schmidt writes: “We didn’t prioritise this year’s Six Nations and I think that was a mistake. He also concedes: “Our performances did not have the consistency of 2018; our levels of accuracy and cohesion fluctuated from game to game, and during games.

Source: The Irish Times November 21, 2019 06:01 UTC