Some things are simply better left unsaid

A FLABBERGASTING devotion to detail is part of what makes Joe Schmidt probably the best coach in rugby.

A man of his perceptiveness and concentration will not easily let a detail slip past. This strength has not been of any benefit to Schmidt in the mortifying saga of the late bus to Murrayfield.

He just does not seem capable of letting the matter lie. He raised it shortly into his postmatch press conference eight days ago, and it has been an irksome spectre rattling around Irish rugby discussions since.

Just because Schmidt is talented does not mean he is immune to mistakes, and he has got this issue wrong. He should not have mentioned it in Murrayfield and he should not have even tangentially alluded to it at the team announcement for yesterday’s match in Rome. His attitude has, however, given an inadvertent insight into the man whose postmatch reviews make his players feel so uneasy. There is simply no detail too small to be ignored, no misstep that is immune to being corrected. When he prepares a team for a Test match, this is a strength. But in reflecting on an unexpected defeat, it can be mistaken for excuse-making.

Nobody can really believe Schmidt (left) was trying to pin the defeat to Scotland on the late arrival of the team bus at the ground, but each repetition of that fact makes it sound like a justification. It wasn’t. It didn’t matter.

This is one error that should have gone unremarked upon.