At the announcement of the Irish side to face France in this weekend's Six Nations, Irish coach Joe Schmidt refused to comment on the fact that Irish internationals Rory Best, Iain Henderson and Craig Gilroy yesterday attended a rape trial at Belfast Crown Court involving their Ulster and Irish teammates Paddy Jackson and Stuart Olding.
When asked by the media whether he had given Best and Henderson permission to leave the Irish camp to attend the trial, Schmidt replied that "I have no comment on that".
When then asked for his opinion on his players' appearance at the trial, Schmidt replied that "we're not in a position to comment on that. It's a legal matter".
A long, lingering pause followed before the questioning turned to this weekend's game.
Both Best and Henderson will feature in Ireland's opening Six Nations game away to France in Paris on Saturday afternoon.
The team in full is:
Kearney; Earls; Aki, Henshaw; Stockdale; Sexton, Murray; Healy, Best, Furlong; Ryan, Henderson; Van Der Flier, O'Mahony, Stander.
Schmidt confirmed that Andrew Conway misses the game through injury, with Fergus McFadden promoted to a spot among the replacements as a result.
