IT’LL BE TOUGH IF SCHMIDT GOES
IF, as appears likely, Joe Schmidt tells us in the next 48 hours that he owes it to his family to get back home to New Zealand, we’ll be disappointed, sure. Schmidt has built something so strong that late Marvel Comics writer Stan Lee would have been mightily impressed by the creation, if he had had been a rugby fan. We’ve got real life superheroes on Schmidt’s team – none more so than young James Ryan. The Leinster man has spent a tiny portion of his professional career in Schmidt’s immediate company, but is going to get better and better. When he reaches full maturity in three or four years, Ryan will be the one true leader on this team. He’ll be more than another Paul O’Connell, he’ll be a mixture of Kieran Read and Brodie Retallick in one green body. Like James Ryan, we will all survive Joe Schmidt. He leaves behind players like Ryan, Dan Leavy, Josh van der Flier, Robbie Henshaw and Jordan Larmour, players who will hopefully remain in the hands of coaches like Andy Farrell, and the Leinster duo of Leo Cullen and Stuart Lancaster. These coaches have seen Schmidt’s templates up close and know that nothing needs to be drastically changed, or even tinkered with, for some time. It’s going to be tough, finding out we only have 12 months left with Schmidt – but we can also maximise that time. And with him being the master of squeezing the purest juice from every minute on the training field, that same 12 months can be as valuable as two or three years. Whatever happens, we’ve got a whole 12 months with the single, untouchable genius in the game. Lucky us!