Legend lauds passionate Schmidt

– Joe Schmidt (right) is a “rugby anorak” but it’s his mastery of detail that can see Ireland edge to within a win of only their third Six Nations Grand Slam, Irish legend Brian O’Driscoll said.

Schmidt, whose side today host a Scotland side boosted by a great win over champions England but with a woeful away record in the Six Nations, is not the one-dimensional coach often portrayed by some people, said O’Driscoll.

O’Driscoll knows Schmidt well as he played for the 52-year-old New Zealander at Leinster – winning back-to-back European Cups – and in the last year of his Test career which

Dublin

climaxed with victory over France in Paris to win the 2014 Six Nations title.

“Maybe we won back-toback European Cups for him,” chuckled O’Driscoll when he spoke to AFP at the Laureus Awards in Monaco.

“One word you associate with Joe Schmidt is detail. Like I have never known any coach to scrutinise a game like him.

“He is an absolute rugby anorak, it is his passion as well as his profession. He is a bit of an insomniac too as he watches so much of it.”

O’Driscoll, Ireland’s most-capped player with 133 and who captained them to the 2009 Grand Slam, illustrates Schmidt’s versatility in sizing up opponents with a move against Wales in the 37-27 victory.

Thus far in his five-year reign it has worked wonders – a thumping defeat by Argentina in the 2015 World Cup quarterfinals being a rare reverse – with the highlights two Six Nations titles and an historic win over world champions New Zealand. –