Dublin: It will be a case of attempting to undo what they helped create when Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt and his key lieutenant Laurie Fisher send Australia out to play Ireland this weekend.
Schmidt and, to a smaller extent, Fisher were at the coalface as Irish rugby underwent a rebuild that now has rival nations trying to replicate those foundations. The ultimate prize of World Cup glory has eluded Ireland, but for several periods they have been ranked the No.1 team in the world.
After coaching the powerhouse Leinster outfit between 2010 and 2013, Schmidt spent six years in charge of the national team.
Fisher’s tenure was a lot shorter, starting in 2008 with Leinster’s bitter rivals Munster. There, he enjoyed three seasons as the forwards coach.
Former Ireland and British and Irish Lions captain Paul O’Connell was one of Fisher’s keenest students as a player. Those days inspired him to become a coach. O’Connell is now the Ireland assistant coach after using Fisher as a sounding board early in his coaching career over Zoom.
“He’s a class act,” Fisher said. “We had a lot of talk about maul attack, maul defence, breakdown. We had pretty regular conversations which I learned as much as I gave, so always good conversations.”
Joe Schmidt and Laurie Fisher bring a wealth of experience to the Wallabies and have strong knowledge of Irish rugby.Credit: Getty
Fisher hopes Schmidt decides to extend his time in charge of Australia beyond next year’s British and Lions tour, but admits that it will be a family call.
The pair have formed a close working relationship as part of a team brought in to sift through the wreckage of the Wallabies’ World Cup campaign. The two men had never worked together directly before and it has provided Fisher with a unique learning experience.
“I think it would be great for Australian rugby [if Schmidt stayed longer],” Fisher said. “He’s a class act and he’s making a huge difference.
“But he’s got other things, and he’ll make decisions around whatever’s happening in his life. Whichever way it goes, I wish him all the best, but in the short period he’s been here, I think he’s made an enormous change for the better.”
Paul O’Connell in action for Ireland in his playing days against Australia in 2011. O’Connell is now the assistant coach of Ireland.Credit: Lawrence Smith
Asked specifically what makes Schmidt so special as a coach, Fisher points to a relentless work ethic.
“He’s got an insane amount of knowledge about all aspects of the game, he’s got a great manner with his staff and the players,” Fisher said. “He’s got a great eye for detail on the pitch and that’s something we’re all chasing to be better as he sees things in the moment, which is what makes him a better coach than most.”
Both Fisher and Schmidt are back on relatively familiar ground in Ireland.
O’Connell will be studying the tape of the Wallabies’ defeat against Scotland, with 34 missed tackles and 14 penalties providing a significant challenge for Fisher and his coaching team.
“We tackled at 86 per cent in the first half which is a pretty solid day out, but we definitely fell off in the second half,” Fisher said. “A little bit about that is that it wasn’t a big ball-in-play game, but we had a couple of long passages in D [defence].
“It was one of those days where we just weren’t smooth and connected in what we were doing, then you had guys jumping out of the line trying to make a difference and that just creates opportunities either side of them. We lost a little bit of our composure…we didn’t play well enough, we didn’t execute our attack as smoothly, they defended exceptionally well, shut us down, so you’ve got to give credit to the Scots in how they played.”
On Saturday, apart from O’Connell, Fisher is likely to bump into even more Irish friends and former colleagues. Ireland halfback Conor Murray and breakaway Peter O’Mahony began their careers at Munster working with Fisher, and winger Mack Hansen played under him at the ACT Brumbies.
Hansen ultimately moved to Ireland with Connacht and Fisher has been delighted to see the success of a man he describes as a “free spirit”.
“He was at the Brumbies with us, and we would have loved to have kept him, but he had got the opportunity over here, ” Fisher said.
“And he’s shown what capacity he’s had, and I think he just had the freedom to play and be himself over here [in Ireland], and maybe felt that it was a bit more of a straitjacket on at home.
“And because he’s a free spirit, a wonderfully talented player and given the right environment, he’s shown what he’s capable of producing, definitely one that got away”
