It’s been a busy week for Joe Schmidt on his return to Dublin, but there’s no fear that the former Ireland head coach will be taking his eye off the ball.
On Saturday, the Kiwi will end a long first year in charge of the Wallabies, back at a stadium he knows very well.
It’s quite appropriate that the IRFU’s 150th anniversary celebrations bring Schmidt back to the Aviva, given his contribution to the professional game.
In his nine years working across Leinster and then Ireland, the New Zealander delivered two Champions Cup titles to the province, as well as three Six Nations titles, which included a Grand Slam in 2018.
“I feel comfortable here. Ten years is a long time,” he said from the Wallabies team hotel in Dublin on Thursday.
“And obviously we still have a home here, my daughter [lives here]. I think we’re probably one of the few loss-making landlords in Dublin but that’s just the way it is [laughs].”
The Wallabies boss was in fine spirits when he spoke to the media on Thursday, after naming his team for Saturday’s meeting with Ireland.
It’s been a hectic week for the ex-Ireland coach, busier than the average away match-week in the northern hemisphere as he connects with his “old friends and new foes”, which includes his former Irish assistant, and the man who replaced him in the top job, Andy Farrell.
“We might catch up either this evening or a coffee tomorrow,” he said.
“I caught up with him in May, had a good chat. Faz has done a great job so yeah, it will be interesting to see how that manifests itself on Saturday.”
While Schmidt has come up against Farrell’s Ireland on a number of occasions during his time as an assistant coach at the All Blacks, this will be his first time facing Ireland as a head coach, and his first time bringing a team back to Lansdowne Road.
It’s prompted a lot of discussion and tributes around his legacy in Irish rugby, something he is proud of both with the national side and the grassroots game.
Schmidt, an Irish citizen since 2015, said: “I think what you want to leave is a legacy that people are enthusiastic about the game. As much as anything, the success that has allowed interest to grow and the playing population to grow.
“And the health of clubs. I’m just going to catch up with people from Old Wesley, I’ll drop into Terenure while I’m back.
“I just love the fact that the sport is not just flourishing at the top end but we’ve been really well hosted by Wanderers the last couple of days in the training. They’ve got a fantastic facility that we’ve been really able to enjoy.”
He has a job to do with Australia this weekend, and it’s a game that will either leave his record for the season in the black or the red, with six wins and six defeats so far in a year that has seen slow, steady improvement.
“I feel like I’m paddling hard, but I’m not necessarily going forward! But I think we’re keeping our head above water.
“We have slipped off in a couple of second halves, which is frustrating but at the same time we’re trying to build to 80-minute performances, and we’re trying to build depth so that if we get a ripple like we did last week, that we can still try and stay on top of the water.
“We’re not necessarily through it, but we are managing to keep our head above it I think, and so there’s been progress I believe.
“We were quite confident in the progress we were making, but sometimes when it’s not reflected on scoreboard results there is always an element of frustration.”
On Tuesday, Ireland forwards coach Paul O’Connell was glowing in his praise for his former head coach, outlining how Schmidt’s fingerprints are still all over how this Ireland team play.
And the Australia boss believes there is one major difference between his Ireland side, and Farrell’s current version.
He said: “I think they’re not that different. Jamison Gibson-Park (above) gives them so much speed in how quickly he arrives and lifts the ball, and distributes it at the breakdown.
“I know it’s something that Conor [Murray] could do for us, but we probably used Conor’s kicking game a little bit more.
“Not that Jamison has a bad kicking game, it’s just that people tend to play to their strengths, and then as a coach you’re trying to maximise the strengths you have in the team.”
The 59-year-old recognises a lot of the traits in Ireland’s gameplan, and also a lot of the faces – of Saturday’s matchday squad, 11 of the 23 played during his six years in charge.
One notable new face is Sam Prendergast. The Leinster out-half has been preferred to Jack Crowley in the 10 shirt this Saturday, winning his third cap on his second start, and Schmidt says the 21-year-old is someone he has been keeping tabs on in the last couple of years.
He said: “I was talking to [former Ireland U20 coach] Richie Murphy two years ago and he was saying, ‘Wow, this kid can play’, and Richie had that time with the Under-20s and they were hugely successful,
“So he’s at the apex of that group of young players who are really exciting.
“But again, he has got his debut against Fiji and I thought he did really well, and Faz [Farrell] must have thought he went all right as well, I suppose, because he’s put him back in against us and that’s a real confidence.
“I’m not saying it’s ever going to be easy for him but imagine having Jamison Gibson-Park and Bundee Aki as inside-outside, Robbie Henshaw right there, Caelan Doris further in, he’s on a really good hinge of experience, I think.”
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