Dodging the hard questions does nobody any good COMMENT

THE plight of the journalist on tour usually falls on deaf ears, and rightly so.

The last thing punters want to hear about are the travails of a reporter on a jaunt halfway across the world, chatting to rugby players for a living and getting free seats at games.

That said, what transpired in the days following Ireland’s latest demoralising exit from a World Cup deserves an airing as it feeds into accountability issues surrounding Joe Schmidt’s failed mission to Japan.

World Rugby stipulate all teams must have four press days per week during the global showpiece, while putting up 10 players for post-match press duties after every game and, by the time the All Blacks game loomed into focus, the Ireland players and management had good reason to be sick of the sight of their following media pack.

However, that is not an excuse for cancelling the followup media opportunity after that 46-14 hammering at the hands of the All Blacks. Not in the slightest. There were a lot of things that needed clarification. Things that did not get addressed during the 15-minute post-match conference – essentially a bunfight for soundbites – following last week’s galling quarter-final defeat.

Instead, we were informed by an IRFU spokesman that there was ‘no appetite’ for such an arrangement, with Schmidt giving a quick debrief when the squad and management landed back in Dublin Airport a few days later.

Many people may roll their eyes when they hear reporters based in Japan – or still in the air on flights home – were annoyed with that development. But they should take notice.

That quick-fire vox-pop in arrivals did not feel like an accident. It felt like Schmidt and the IRFU knew exactly what they were doing.

A quick doorstep, four questions, seven minutes, and the former boss was away.

During that short time, Schmidt (above) again insisted his squad had been carrying injuries into the All Blacks game which affected preparation.

To a man, every player offered up that week had said how brilliant training had gone and how prepared they felt.

Go figure.

Schmidt also revealed that this operation had looked too far ahead to Japan during the last

Six Nations and subsequently lost their ‘rhythm’ heading towards the World Cup.

That admission would give some credence to comments from Brian O’Driscoll and Isa Nacewa in recent days that Schmidt made an ill-judged change in focus which led to a worrying slump in form.

It’s a shame we didn’t get a chance to challenge Schmidt on any of these points or ask some questions of our own. Not for the first time, the IRFU have left a vacuum and, as always, once you do that, something else will come in to fill it.

Rarely have Ireland won the PR battle this year. Remember the whole shambles that unfolded when Schmidt’s 31-man World Cup squad got leaked into the media? Get ready for more leaks in the coming weeks.

There were plenty of clangers at the World Cup as well.

Putting Willie Bennett – one of the squad’s long-serving masseurs – up for media alongside CJ Stander two days after that shock Japan loss was a bizarre move.

It was a time when the senior players and coaches should have been stepping up and taking the heat. Instead, they threw one of their backroom staff under the bus. That was poor form.

For the record, it’s worth reiterating the tremendous work Schmidt did during his near decade as a coach on this island. His legacy at Leinster and Ireland is safe, despite those two crushing World Cup campaigns.

He always came across as a thoroughly decent and hardworking individual, and he delivered some of the greatest daysthis country has ever witnessed, across any sport or code. But he is not immune to criticism. Especially now after this utter failure in Japan.

A meticulous and committed operator, he demanded the same level of intensity from his coaching team, management and players. When it worked – especially in 2018 – no questions were asked. Yet the fear remained that the ultra-intense environment that Schmidt created would not fare well during a gruelling World Cup campaign. And so it proved.

Schmidt got a lot of things wrong in his final year in charge. The writing was on the wall as far back as that opening February weekend of the Six Nations when England battered them. Rather than change his approach, Schmidt seemed to double-down on Ireland’s rigid, possession-based game plan.

And the likes of Japan and the All Blacks rubbed their hands with glee.

Maybe we should have challenged him a bit more, maybe the players should have spoken out, maybe they did?

So many questions. It’s just a shame we never got the opportunity to ask any of them.