IRELAND coach Joe Schmidt yesterday admitted he struggled regarding whether to select Andrew Trimble in his World Cup squad, before eventually leaving out the 30-year-old.

Ireland’s 31-man squad announcement left most discussing the absence of the Ulster winger, who was his nation’s 2014 player of the year.

Trimble has since suffered a long-term toe injury, with the resulting lack of game time causing his omission, though Schmidt admitted it had been a “very difficult decision.”

“We spent six hours on Sunday (picking the squad),” said the Ireland coach.

“For some of those six hours Andrew was coming to the World Cup. That’s how close it was.”

Trimble made his first Ireland appearance since June 2015 in the 35-21 win against Wales on August 8 but lasted less than a half due to another foot injury.

“The difficulty was that Andrew had played 34 minutes of a Test match. He played 80 minutes for Ulster,” added Schmidt.

“In between that, he’d hurt the foot again and it just interrupted his opportunity to press for selection.

“Ability, commitment and what he’s contributed when he has played for us all certainly counted for him. 

“That’s why it was one of the very, very difficult decisions that we made.”

Schmidt said Trimble was “very disappointed” but would remain focused as he could well be needed as a replacement.

The Ireland coach also explained that centre Darren Cave was selected primarily through being a specialist in both inside and outside centre, unlike colleagues Robbie Henshaw and Jared Payne.

“We have a little bit of a manufactured midfield. Robbie hadn’t played 12 until he came into this environment and Jared played more at full-back than 13.

“We wanted one specialist midfielder in there who could play 12 or 13 and Darren can do that. And his flexibility and positivity in the environment are real plusses for us.”

Ireland start their campaign against Canada on Saturday September 19 before facing Romania, Italy and France in Pool D.

Schmidt’s side are currently third in the Rugby World rankings so are favourites to win their pool, a result which would help them avoid tournament favourites and reigning champions New Zealand in the quarter-finals.