NEW DEAL OR SCHMIDT’S LAST SUPPER
Tearful Ireland boss says family meal at home will decide whether he’ll stay or go
OF all the scenarios one might have anticipated at a press conference announcing an Ireland team to play the US Eagles, the sight of Joe Schmidt becoming emotional would not have figured.
But towards the end of a briefing with the daily newspapers at Ireland’s base in Maynooth yesterday afternoon, Schmidt became visibly moved as he talked about his future.
A meal with his family on Sunday afternoon will, according to Schmidt, determine what he does next. Despite speculation to the contrary, he says he still doesn’t know if he will agree to stay on after the World Cup next year.
That he has been given time and room in which to decide comes as no surprise; he is the best coach Ireland has ever had, and if he does decide to move on, the IRFU will have 12 months to find a replacement.
It’s doubtful they will have to look far: Andy Farrell is the probable successor, but Leo Cullen, Stuart Lancaster or a combination of the two will come under consideration, too.
A conversation with David Nucifora, the high performance director of the IRFU, will see Schmidt give his decision on Sunday evening or Monday morning.
The push and pull factors seem plain. Leading Ireland to a Grand Slam, followed by a first home win over New Zealand, is the ideal preparation for a World Cup.
Bringing Ireland to the semi-finals of the competition, a level they have never reached before, would be the last piece of outstanding business attended to.
He could leave then feeling fulfilled, and entitled to think he got as much as he could out of an outstanding group. As a New Zealander, he is also entitled to think he is good enough to one day lead the All Blacks.
And finally, he has spoken in the past of wanting to return so he and his family can spend time with relatives from whom they have been separated for almost a decade now.
But there are factors that could convince him to remain, too, one of which is just how happy his family are living in Dublin.
‘We are going to get a bit of time for a brunch on Sunday and kind of nut a few things out,’ he said yesterday.
‘Yeah, look it is tough for me to be honest,’ he continued before pausing as his emotions welled.
‘I am not sure, you know. I cannot believe the support we have had here as a family. Obviously with Luke (his son who has epilepsy), he has phenomenal support. I will ask him a question and see how we go.’
There are sound professional reasons to keep Schmidt, too. One is a system designed specifically for the benefit of the national team.
‘I think the alignment has never been so strong,’ he said of the relationships between the national team and the provincial sides. ‘It has a dual benefit, the managing of players and bringing them through.’ When the teams below the national level work in concert with the national side, then a head coach will be satisfied. And it is a situation that makes the coaches of England and France, in particular, look on in envy. Wales have spent years trying to introduce a plan based on Ireland’s. Schmidt was asked if there was another country with a rugby structure as well aligned as he sees the Irish one. His answer was correct, but also telling. ‘Yeah, I do think the New Zealand system is really well aligned.
‘The only three systems I’ve coached in are the New Zealand, French and Irish ones and I do think we are similar to the New Zealand system.’
As a man noted for his hard work and devotion to detail, it is difficult to imagine Schmidt accepting the conditions under which the coach of France, for instance, has to labour, with clubs often uncooperative and even obstructive in allowing access to their talent. However, in his homeland, in the job with which he has been tirelessly linked, Schmidt would enjoy an environment similar to the one in which he now coaches.
But there is no vacancy in New Zealand yet, of course. That would not stop Schmidt returning home and either working in Super Rugby or taking a sabbatical after the World Cup. All remains in doubt, it would seem. Up to yesterday, there was a consensus building that he would leave Ireland at the conclusion of their interest in the World Cup. That doesn’t look as clear-cut this morning. ‘I do think it’s in a really good place at the moment,’ he said of Ireland, ‘and it is fickle because things can change, but it has allowed us to put ourselves in a strong position.’ His own position has never been stronger, but that guarantees nothing. The waiting goes on for a few days yet.