Why Joe Schmidt should get out of Dodge on his own terms
JOE SCHMIDT would be well advised to leave Ireland in June 2017. If he times his departure properly, he could be home in New Zealand in time for the first Test between the Lions and the All Blacks on the 24th of that month, rested and with the promise of a rewarding career ahead of him.
He could sit back and watch his native country beat the tar out of the tourists, who will probably be led by Warren Gatland. Anything but a series whitewash for the Lions would be a surprise. A defeat on that scale would leave Gatland’s chances of one day coaching New Zealand looking grim, and by then he would still have two years remaining on his Wales contract.
Steve Hansen, the current All Blacks coach, has intimated that he will leave the job after the Lions Tests, and while it has been suggested Schmidt would have to work with one of the New Zealand franchises before he could contend for the national job, it is difficult to believe that his achievements with Clermont, Leinster and Ireland would not bolster his candidacy.
Even the infamously sniffy Kiwis, who approach European rugby with narrowed eyes and pinched noses, would be impressed by Schmidt’s sustained record of success in the north, as well as the testimonies to his coaching excellence.
The reaction to Ireland’s recent form is another reason why Schmidt should walk away when his contract expires at the end of next season. The hysteria surrounding his position has been preposterous, even by the standards of the most voluble rugby commentary in this country.
Schmidt cannot be immune to criticism, and there are areas of his management vulnerable to it. The carping about referees’ scrummaging interpretations was unconvincing given Ireland suffered in the set-piece against both Wales and France.
His account of Ireland’s curtailed preparations for the trip to Paris sounded like nothing more than excuse-making.
These are mere cavils, though. Schmidt’s record since replacing Declan Kidney two and a half years ago is the most impressive of any Irish coach yet. Under his tutelage, the national side have lost three Six Nations matches: to England in 2014, to Wales last year and to France last weekend.
THEY have not been undone by perennial drain-circlers Italy or Scotland; they have won the matches they are expected to and they have mostly beaten the better sides as well. For all of the misery the World Cup ultimately tipped on the coach, his players and the country’s supporters, Ireland negotiated their pool without a hitch and beat France in a momentous match. The quarterfinal defeat to Argentina constituted a dismal failure, but a significant reason was the cost extracted by the French match: to beat a team Ireland have not habitually defeated, Irish players had to expend so much effort that it left its best ones either injured or exhausted.
That is not to minimise the patent failures in strategy and execution in the Argentina match but it is to contextualise it. Perspective has been gleefully ignored by Schmidt’s panting pursuers.
Not only was a one-point defeat in the Stade de France enough to send cries for regime change skywards, but the style of play is also infuriating these delicate purists. Since when did Ireland teams prioritise style, though?
With the exception of Leinster’s two European Cup wins under Schmidt in 2011 and 2012, there is no record of achievement by sides from this country playing free-spirited, instinctive rugby. Successful teams, be they Munster, Leinster under Michael Cheika, or the Ireland achievers led by Eddie O’Sullivan and Declan Kidney, were studies in pragmatism.
They wrung the best from themselves and that invariably meant adhering to structured, disciplined plans. Schmidt’s Leinster were brilliant outliers thanks to a some gifted players in their prime, judicious imports in Brad Thorn and Isa Nacewa, and the fact that they spent day after day being drilled in the essentials of the Schmidt plan.
There is no time for such dedicated coaching in the Test arena, which is why every team in the Six Nations plays in a practiced, wellrehearsed way.
Joe Schmidt should be made to account for failure but he has also earned the right to lose a one-point match against a team that, for all of their deficiencies, have traditionally beaten Ireland out of Paris and back across the sea.
THE golden generation is gone. It lingered long enough for Schmidt to harness it and inspire it to the 2014 and 2015 championships, but the retirement of Paul O’Connell has broken the final link with that era. There is no comparable seam of talent in this age. Johnny Sexton and Seán O’Brien are Ireland’s convincing world-class talents. Conor Murray, Robbie Henshaw and Jack McGrath are within sight of those standards.
Beyond that, resources are modest. Schmidt should do his best with them for the next 15 months.
He would be advised to let Gatland lead the Lions on a tour that promises little but pain and is unlikely to burnish the CV of the visiting coach.
Schmidt is entitled to dream beyond the Ireland job. He is good enough to lead New Zealand, and it is only when he is there that people here will realise how good he was.