Earls relishing enormity of centre stage Bastareaud battle

The theme for the past week has been physicality, so it's appropriate that Ireland will wait until after what is certain to be a brutal affair this afternoon before making their mind up on how to replace the injured Jared Payne. As it stands, Schmidt's decision to run with just two scrumhalves in the 31-man squad has left him with five fit players in the middle of the field: Robbie Henshaw, Keith Earls, Ian Madigan, Luke Fitzgerald and Darren Cave.