Joe Schmidt hoping Roux can become the mighty Quinn

The Quinn Roux numbers do not stack up. And they should, considering his 6ft 5in frame is filled by 124 kilograms of Pretoria muscle.

Having been leapfrogged in 2012 by the monstrous 6ft 8in Eben Etzebeth at Western Province, Roux headed north to join Joe Schmidt at Leinster. In two disappointing seasons he made just 14 starts, before he was pawned off to the career redemption capital of the rugby world.

Galway may yet be the place that saves his career now Aly Muldowney is off to France. A powerful enough first campaign for Connacht was overshadowed by the same niggly injuries this season that failed to endear him to Leinster folk.

Sure enough, when it came to the biggest games in the western province's history this past fortnight, Pat Lam opted to start Muldowney and Ultan Dillane with Andrew Browne in reserve.

So Roux finished with only 12 games this season.

Power surge

Schmidt sees enough in Roux to disagree with Lam. The 50-year-old embarks on his first major summer tour as Ireland coach, where he intends to engineer a historic victory in South Africa, with a native poised to be trusted with supplying the power surge.

“It’s a risk, I’d be the first to admit it,” Schmidt conceded. “But how great is a risk taking another loosehead lock when we know how important the set-piece is going to be?

“It’s about trying to get the best needs-must solution to an imperfect world.”

By this, Schmidt readily agreed that Ireland do not produce men the size of Roux.

“Quinn is an investment in our set-piece, and it is an investment in Quinn. We are very keen for Quinn to invest in us and demonstrate what he can do. It’s frustrating for Quinn that he is not playing at moment. He would love to be playing but he is a big strong man who genuinely plays that side of the scrum.”

As does Mick Kearney but the Dubliner was ruled out of the summer tour with a shoulder injury even before Saturday's nasty head clash with Jake Heenan in Murrayfield.

Bottom line for Schmidt is Irish rugby's small playing pool has been unable to produce a lock to deliver the necessary physical presence behind Mike Ross since that great Limerick man was carried away from Cardiff.

“There is the freak exception like Paul O’Connell, who at 112 kilos can play tighthead lock as well as anyone in the world because he is technically as good as he is and mentally as strong as he is.”

Was. Dillane, whose father hails from the Ivory Coast, hopes to become the man who adequately fills O’Connell’s old role. “It’s definitely something I’m looking to get good at,” the 22-year-old admitted.

What’s the difference between loose and tighthead scrummaging in the second row? “More weight comes through it,” the 115kg lock explained.

Dillane reminded us that before bursting through Dave Kearney in the Pro12 final or splitting open the English defence at Twickenham in February, he was playing club rugby for Corinthians in November.

AIL to facing the Boks is a wonderful leap. But he may have to wait behind his current Connacht understudy. “Quinn’s massive, he’s a beast. He’s got that game in the loose that you haven’t seen yet.”

Also going home are CJ Stander and Richardt Strauss, whose cousin Adriaan Strauss was named as new Springbok captain yesterday.

“Certainly there are insights they can offer,” Schmidt conceded after initially calling them Irish men and no more. “They all played at a high level – Super Rugby or South Africa under-20s – so they would know a number of the players . . . They can feel a little comfortable in the grounds we are playing on.”