Ireland boss Joe Schmidt insists that Garry Ringrose’s performance under pressure at inside centre last weekend against the All Blacks had won the young gun another chance to impress in the 12 shirt.

Ringrose is partnered with Jared Payne for Ireland’s match against Australia on Saturday, as Ireland bid to finish the November series on a high.

Great shot of EliteAthlete,Garry Ringrose take on All Blacks last Saturday 🇮🇪 #IRL 🇮🇪#ASPIRE #ACHIEVE #EXCEL@UCDALUMNI @UCD_HPG @ucddublin pic.twitter.com/EmkJRMmUHZ

— UCD Ad Astra Academy (@ucdadastracadmy) November 22, 2016

“Really it’s a reflection of his performance last week,” said Schmidt. “I thought Garry stepped in and did incredibly well against New Zealand.

“He slipped a couple of tackles, got one line break and almost got another couple, and he was among our top tacklers.

“So it’s another opportunity to invest in Garry.

“He’s been in camp with us for a year and a half at different times, and he’s been a bit of a long-term investment, that we want to take this opportunity to develop a bit further.”

Schmidt conceded Ireland lost some of their attacking stability against New Zealand on Saturday once Henshaw and Sexton went off injured.

But the former Leinster boss remains adamant one more week working together will hand Jackson, Ringrose and Jared Payne the confidence to run a seamless offensive game.

“We lost our shape at points last week, it was quite difficult with those changes,” said Schmidt.

“Sometimes you create chances but if you don’t have leadership then you don’t tend to have cohesion, and guys aren’t then in the right place at the right time.

“Robbie Henshaw was an absolutely stand-out player for us in Chicago.

“And not having him for the majority of Saturday’s match probably didn’t allow us quite so much robustness through the midfield.

“And not having Johnny (Sexton) didn’t quite give us the same kind of organisation.

“Not that Paddy Jackson can’t do that, we saw in South Africa in the summer that he can, but he hadn’t had nearly as much time in the saddle recently as Johnny.

“So what we’re hoping is that they’ve had a bit of game time together last week, and we’ve had training since, and hopefully those guys can get a bit of confidence from that.

“And hopefully that confidence can be reflected in the performance we put together on Saturday.”