While supporters have seen the benefits that Joe Schmidt has brought to Irish rugby in his seven years here, the players will tell you of the fear of the Monday morning review sessions. It's Schmidt's detail that sets him apart from the rest we're told, and that extends to reviewing training and games with painstaking detail.
Stories of key players being singled out in these reviews for minor details have done the rounds, and contributed to an ethos within his squads that focus on precision in ways that the players wouldn't have seen before.
So when Cian Healy says that he got more abuse from twitter than from Schmidt over that knock on inches away from the Welsh line last Saturday, it highlights the vitriol that can exist online. Speaking to the 42, Healy said that during the all important video review, Schmidt was quite forgiving of the situation but he received tweets that were less considerate.
No he didn’t kill me, everyone else did. Twitter killed me, Joe was alright.
Proof that Schmidt didn't blame Healy too much for the incident is in his promotion to the starting XV at the expense of in-form Jack McGrath. It will be Healy's first start for Ireland after a horrendous run of luck with injuries, and he will be looking to take out his frustration on Scotland and their tighthead Euan Murray.
[The42]
