Ireland coach Schmidt faces World Cup selection headache

Ireland's Simon Zebo looks for a way past Wales's Alex Cuthbert (L) during their 2015 Rugby World Cup warm up match at The Millennium Stadium

AFP: Joe Schmidt admits he is facing some tough decisions after Ireland’s impressive 35-21 World Cup warm-up win over Wales in Cardiff.

The Irish head coach picked largely a reserve team at the Millennium Stadium but saw his men comfortably dispatch a disjointed Wales side, running in three tries in the first half and two more after the interval.

Schmidt confirmed he would start the process of trimming his World Cup squad this week before selecting players to face Scotland in Dublin in three weeks’ time.

“This is the type of headache you want as a coach,” insisted Schmidt. 

“You don’t want selection decisions to be clear and obvious because people have not performed. You want it to be tough and there were a number of guys who put their hands up.

“Keith Earls was man of the match, Donnacha (Ryan) got through a huge volume of work and the skipper (Jamie Heaslip) went pretty well.

“Tommy O’Donnell also did really well until his injury, he’s gone to hospital for a scan on his hip and we will know more soon. He is such a dynamic player so we have all got our fingers crossed that he is going to be ok.