Sunday 19 February 2017 21:18, UK
Ireland fly-half Johnny Sexton will be given until Tuesday to prove his fitness for next Saturday’s Six Nations clash with France in Dublin.
A calf injury has forced Sexton to sit out Ireland's opening two matches of the tournament against Scotland and Italy, with Ulster's Paddy Jackson deputising.
Sexton again missed Friday's open training session in front of 3,000 Irish fans at Monaghan RFC and Schmidt says his participation against the French will depend on the progress he makes over the next few days.
"That's just another of those decisions we have to make," he said. "Part of that would probably be based on [whether] Johnny does put his hand up, how well does he train on Tuesday.
"I think Johnny starts a ripple in the team, very often. He is in a hub position, where a lot of his confidence goes through the team, and Paddy's growing that all the time.
"Johnny did some high-speed running today, he'll do some volume running over the weekend, and then he should be fit to go in and out of training on Monday and then train fully on Tuesday."
Full back Rob Kearney also sat out Friday's session as he continues his recovery from a bicep tendon injury but Schmidt is optimistic he will be ready to face France.
"Rob's hitting all his markers," Schmidt said. "We're quietly confident there more than overtly confident, but as long as he keeps going in the direction he's going, we'd hope that he'll take a full part in training on Tuesday."
"There's a small amount of uncertainty around Iain Henderson and Peter O'Mahony but now that they've trained fully and the nature of training today, we'd be really super confident that they are set to go. They both trained really well.
"Andrew Trimble trained really well today as well, so we are starting to get those guys back. Johnny is maybe three or four days behind them, that's all. We'd be very hopeful that we'll get that as well."
O'Mahony's return in particular will come as a welcome boost after Leinster flanker Josh van der Flier was forced off during Friday's 39-10 PRO12 bonus-point win over Edinburgh with a shoulder injury.
