Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt will announce his final 31-man squad for the Rugby World Cup on Monday and admits there are some difficult conversations ahead of him.
On Sunday the New Zealander will tell the players whether or not they will be going to the tournament. He said telling players who had trained so well over the last eight or nine weeks that they hadn’t made the squad was the most unpleasant part of his job.
“How do you tell someone who has worked incredibly hard and is so desperately keen to be involved? You tell them as honestly as you can,” he said at the team announcement yesterday.
Schmidt also discussed in more detail which positions he feels are up for grabs before Monday’s squad announcement.
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