Here we are three days after one of the biggest drubbings the Ireland rugby team has ever endured. If you wanted an indicator of just how seriously management are taking the defeat, look no further than Joe Schmidt's media activity today . Schmidt runs his media activity with the same discipline that he coaches his players. On a typical week, fans won't hear from Schmidt on a match week until the day of the team announcement. But this afternoon at Carton House, Schmidt broke with at least 5 years of convention in order to directly address the shocking nature of the England loss.
His verdict - yes Ireland were abject but let's not totally panic. You can watch the whole press conference here.
"It's an unacceptable result for us, it's a performance beneath where we'd like and need to be.
"The whole group are very conscious that we have a short period of time to accelerate what is part of a progression."
After Ireland's lineout went into the toilet at Twickenham, Schmidt also stated that there is 'no internal noise' about captain Rory Best being dropped.
There are no decisions that have been made in that direction.
If guys perform better than any other player that played last weekend, there is always a contest.
As for Ireland's mounting list, Schmidt seemed to suggest that Johnny Sexton, Conor Murray, Cian Healy and Keith Earls will miss this weekend's warm-up against Wales but all should be available for Ireland's final match before jetting off to Japan.
