It is more than half a decade since Joe Schmidt took charge of his last game for Ireland – a comprehensive 32-point World Cup quarter-final loss to New Zealand in Japan – but the coach remains a source of fascination in Dublin. In press conferences and pub conversations, Schmidt’s name is never far away.
In his six years at the helm, Schmidt completely transformed the country’s rugby fortunes, taking them from an inconsistent performer capable of shock victories to a ruthlessly professional outfit that could compete with the very best in the world.
After he steered Ireland to the Six Nations championship in 2014, 2015 and 2018, Schmidt’s analytical approach and forensic attention to detail was widely applauded.
But by the time his side crashed out of the 2019 World Cup, it had become a point of conflict within his squad. Schmidt’s story in Ireland was mostly a rich one, but with a painful final page.
Devil in the details
Rory Best, Schmidt’s former captain, was first to break cover shortly after the 2019 World Cup when he spoke of an environment he believed had become difficult to operate in. “Too much detail and too much tension too early,” said Best at an event in Dublin. “If I’d known it was happening, I’d have stood up and said, ‘Look, I don’t think we need this.’ Joe just needed to trust … he’s the best coach I’ve ever worked with bar nobody, but just trust that it’s there.”
In 2023, Ireland prop Andrew Porter unfavourably contrasted Schmidt’s intense approach with that of current coach Andy Farrell. “Sometimes, before Faz [Farrell], I was so anxious coming into camp, I’d be counting every bump on the driveway into [Ireland’s training ground] Carton House because I was going to a place that could be very stressful,” Andrew Porter told The Sunday Times in March.
Joe Schmidt at Wallabies training in Dublin this week.Credit: Sportsfile via Getty Images
Andrew Trimble played 70 times for Ireland and believes that he only fully reached his potential as an international rugby player thanks to Schmidt. He cannot relate to the criticism that followed Schmidt’s difficult departure in 2019. Trimble understood that Schmidt’s demands on him and the squad were exacting, but the means always justified the end, even in defeat.
“There was no issue with what we were doing when we were successful for so long under Joe,” Trimble said. “It was only the last six months [of his tenure] and then people kind of overthink and kind of retrospectively say, ‘Oh, you know, maybe how we should have behaved [differently]’.
“But there was no problem with it for three years, which to me, is a little bit of kind of hindsight and thinking, but that’s because I responded well to the environment.”
Joe Schmidt addresses his Ireland players in Melbourne before a Test against the Wallabies.Credit: Sportsfile via Getty Images
Former Ireland and Leinster five-eighth Ian Madigan played under Schmidt for club and country and agrees with Trimble’s assessment that the coach’s attention to detail did not suffocate Irish rugby, but instead breathed new life into it. Madigan, like Trimble, decided to lean into Schmidt’s preparation as the key to unlocking new levels of performance in himself and his teammates.
“Initially with Leinster and Ireland, players would have felt a bit overawed with the detail,” Madigan said. “But the realisation was that as players, we needed to get to that level of detail to be successful, and he was the guy who was going to drive us to be that detail-oriented team and drive us to success.
“So like the extra study that you had to do on video analysis and reviewing training and reviewing the opposition, and you know what ball a player would carry with, or what foot they would favour stepping off – that attention to detail was what was needed to lift ourselves ahead of the opposition.
“And you know his record speaks for itself: the European [Cup] wins, the Six Nations wins, beating the All Blacks [in 2016], it was just transformative for Leinster rugby and Irish rugby.”
Schmidt’s comeback story
At last year’s World Cup in France, Ireland once again were knocked out by New Zealand, with Schmidt playing a significant role as All Blacks assistant coach.
The level of detail he had been criticised for after Ireland’s exit in Japan was there for all to see in how the All Blacks attacked Ireland’s breakdown and manipulated their defence four years later. Former Ireland hooker Bernard Jackman, now one of the country’s premier analysts, says Schmidt’s coaching qualities have helped galvanise a Wallabies team struggling for confidence
“There’s no coach I’ve ever met that has such deep knowledge of the game and is able to coach it. Honestly, that’s it,” Jackman said.
Joe Schmidt will be desperate for success in the Wallabies’ last Test of 2024 in Dublin.Credit: Getty Images
“He knows the rule-book better than the referees, and he’s not afraid to tell them, either … obviously he reviewed that last year with Ireland. He reviewed how maybe he overstepped the mark in terms of intensity and scrutiny.
“His footprints were all over that All Blacks team [in 2023], particularly the win against Ireland in the quarter-final. Any team that Joe Schmidt is involved with is a smarter rugby team … Australia, they just look so smart.”
A Lions appetiser in Dublin
On Saturday, Schmidt will return to Lansdowne Road, where he enjoyed so much success, for the first time as an opposition head coach. The Wallabies’ loss to Scotland last week has been dismissed as a minor setback by the Ireland players and coaches, who are anticipating Schmidt will have something special up his sleeve in Dublin.
Schmidt will also face off against Farrell, his former assistant, who has enjoyed his own success with Ireland as a head coach. Ireland players have consistently spoken about Farrell’s personal touch, such as inviting family and friends to visit Ireland’s training camp to create a more relaxed environment. Similarly, within the Wallabies squad, Schmidt has created an infinitely happier camp after the disastrous tenure of Eddie Jones.
Farrell will also take charge of next year’s British and Irish Lions tour, with Saturday’s Test in Dublin the first tactical battle between the two coaches. Five years after Schmidt’s departure, the stinging criticism from some quarters of Irish rugby has been replaced by an almost unanimously positive view of his contributions. His time in Ireland is being viewed far more favourably in the fullness of time.
Former world player of the year and Ireland breakaway Josh van der Flier played in the World Cup quarter-final defeat to the All Blacks last year and experienced Schmidt’s ability to come back to haunt his former colleagues. He expects the Wallabies side to end their spring tour with a statement performance.
“We know Joe very well – they’ll be well organised,” van der Flier said. “Of course, we all know that. And I was always on the side of his trick plays, the way he sets up the team to beat the opposition.
“But I’m used to being on his side of it, so it’ll be a bit different, I’m sure we’ll be expecting a few good moves and trick plays. He was always very, very good at that and a well-drilled side as well. Then, obviously, I think [Australia’s] individuals as well, they’ve a lot of really good players, all throughout their team, so it’ll be a big challenge.”
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