Nervy Joe sets sights on history for Ireland
BEFORE guiding Ireland to a memorable victory over Australia last autumn, Joe Schmidt did not sleep a wink. ‘I didn’t know until later that I had appendicitis,’ he said with a smile yesterday.
Schmidt is not suffering with any such ailments now but he fears this evening will be another restless night, his mind burdened with the responsibility of trying to guide Ireland past an impressive Argentina side at the Millennium Stadium.
The Kiwi suffers from terrible pre-match nerves. But with his team possibly about to make history by becoming the first Ireland side to win a World Cup quarter-final, at what will be their sixth attempt, he sounded almost neurotic.
‘I have a love-hate relationship with my job,’ he said. ‘ I love coaching and I’ve got a fantastic group that I work with. I really enjoy so many elements of it but at the same time I think I’m like anyone, when the pressure is there you’ re conscious of it, you’ re trying to be the least reactive to it as you can be, because if you’re not calm you can’t expect your players to be calm.
‘But I’ m always incredibly nervous and I’m a realist in that nothing makes it different.
‘Irish teams have been really well prepared in the past and haven’t got over the line. The Irish team four years ago were really well prepared and, you know, I think that they were incredibly disappointed at the end of the day and we will be too.’
Schmidt was asked if being New Zealand-born, being entrusted with the national team of his adopted country, added to the sense of responsibility.
He began by disputing the idea that he is a foreign coach. ‘I got my citizenship just before I came over,’ he said, a little frostily. ‘I’m travelling on an Irish passport. I’ve committed five years of my life to working hard to try to help players realise their potential.
‘I think I’d feel pressure wherever I am, whatever job I do, because I just really want it to go well and there are so many elements we don’t control.’
Schmidt is meticulous in the way he prepares his teams and the former head teacher has an authoritative air. But the imponderables are what trouble him, and, try as he might to remove any doubts, the fitness of Johnny Sexton has to remain chief among them.
Sexton was unable to continue after just 25 minutes of last weekend’s brutal encounter with France, and it is inconceivable that he is no longer troubled by an adductor muscle injury suffered only six days ago. Schmidt paid tribute to ‘the medical staff and the strength and conditioning coaches’ and they do deserve credit for the fact that Ireland’ s talented fly-half was even able to take a full part in training yesterday.
But Sexton (below) has to be a concern for a game that promises to be every bit as physical as that contest with the French. ‘Johnny is fit,’ insisted Schmidt. ‘Before we played France in the Six Nations there were a lot of questions and he was fine. We don’t tend to take risks with injured players. We’ve allowed him to build into the week.’
Of some comfort to Schmidt will be the manner in which his players responded to losing key men such as Sexton and skipper Paul O’Connell last Sunday. In Ian Madigan they had a more than worthy replacement for Sexton, and Iain Henderson was magnificent as understudy to O’Connell.
Henderson retains his place in the second row, with Jordi Murphy and Chris Henry selected in the back row to replace the suspended Sean O’Brien and the i njured Peter O’Mahony.
‘The group have demonstrated that, in adversity, they can respond and I think there’s something in the Irish psyche that if you are beaten around a little, there’s a resilience and resolve that gets demonstrated,’ said Schmidt.
‘I am really confident that we will demonstrate that again. Is that going to be enough? We’ll find out on Sunday. I’d never exude confidence but you’ve got to be
quietly confident.’