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Joe Schmidt's not-so-fond farewell as IRFU blame him for World Cup failure

(Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)

Less than seven weeks after Ireland were humiliatingly bundled out of the World Cup on the back of a record quarter-final defeat, a whole heap of blame has just been deposited at the door of Joe Schmidt.

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Just twelve months ago the New Zealander was wildly feted around Ireland. He had just been voted World Rugby’s coach of the year on the back of a calendar year where his team had clinched the Six Nations Grand Slam, won a tour series in Australia and beaten the All Blacks in Dublin. 

Now after a chronic World Cup that featured pool defeat to hosts Japan, a limp display against minnows Russia and then a shredding by New Zealand in the quarter-finals, the coach with the once untouchable reputation is now being blamed for his second poor World Cup finish just weeks after voluntarily giving up the job he held since 2013. 

In what amounted to a PR buck-passing exercise that ensured IRFU high performance boss David Nucifora and incoming head coach Andy Farrell – Schmidt’s assistant since 2016 – were absolved of blame, Nucifora appeared in front of a selected group of handpicked media to deliver a damning verdict on Schmidt’s World Cup campaign. 

The review, which involved Nucifora interviewing coaches and relevant management staff while an independent body spoke with players, identified four key areas for Ireland’s latest calamitous World Cup – failure to evolve the game plan, performance anxiety, poor preparation and a skills deficit.

(Continue reading below…)

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These deficiencies were all placed at Schmidt’s door despite Nucifora’s own involvement with the IRFU since 2014 – he even delivered the post-mortem on the 2015 World Cup failure and some of those shortcomings were repeated at RWC 2019 – and Farrell’s position as part of the Schmidt management set-up since the 2016 tour to South Africa. 

In media reports about the review that seemingly contained upwards of 50 recommendations following on from RWC 2019, Nucifora, who was handed a contract extension through to 2022 just months before the World Cup failure, said: “Should we have developed our game further? Potentially, yes, with the benefit of hindsight. We pay our coaches for those decisions. They have been good at those for a long period of time.

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“We could have gone down that path, but I want to be clear there is no guarantee it would have produced a better result. Should we have armed our players with more tools? In hindsight, we should have but that is easy for me to say that sitting here now… it potentially could have really turned to custard for us. It’s a learning for us in terms of managing the future.”

Farrell, who jarringly has been handed a contract through to the 2023 World Cup despite never before taking charge of a team, is gearing up for his first Six Nations game, the February 1 encounter with Scotland in Dublin.  

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Rather than agree that Farrell’s capabilities must be questioned after Ireland conceded eight tries in a pre-World Cup embarrassment at the hands of England and then seven tries versus New Zealand at the finals, Nucifora handed Schmidt’s successor a clean slate. 

“Why would he be tainted? No, I don’t think he’s been tainted at all. Like anything, you benefit from the experience and, again, it might be harsh and it hurts but the benefit you get from losing, you actually learn more so he has got that benefit and he is now in charge of running the show.”

WATCH: RugbyPass looks back on some of our favourite moments with the fans at the 2019 World Cup in Japan

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O
Oh no, not him again? 2 hours ago
England internationals disagree on final play execution vs All Blacks

Okay, so we blew it big time on Saturday. So rather than repeating what most people have all ready said, what do I want to see from Borthwick going forward?


Let's keep Marcus Smith on the pitch if he's fit and playing well. I was really pleased with his goal kicking. It used to be his weakness. I feel sympathy for George Ford who hadn't kicked all match and then had a kick to win the game. You hear pundits and commentators commend kickers who have come off the bench and pulled that off. Its not easy. If Steve B continues to substitute players with no clear reason then he is going to get criticised.


On paper I thought England would beat NZ if they played to their potential and didn't show NZ too much respect. Okay, the off the ball tackles certainly stopped England scoring tries, but I would have liked to see more smashing over gainlines and less kicking for position. Yes, I also know it's the Springbok endorsed world cup double winning formula but the Kiwi defence isn't the Bok defence, is it. If you have the power to put Smith on the front foot then why muzzle him? I guess what I'm saying is back, yourself. Why give the momentum to a team like NZ? Why feed the beast? Don't give the ball to NZ. Well d'uh.


Our scrum is a long term weakness. If you are going to play Itoje then he needs an ogre next door and a decent front row. Where is our third world class lock? Where are are realible front row bench replacements? The England scrum has been flakey for a while now. It blows hot and cold. Our front five bench is not world class.


On the positive side I love our starting backrow right now. I'd like to see them stick together through to the next world cup.


Anyway, there is always another Saturday.

7 Go to comments
C
CO 2 hours ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Robertson is more a manager of coaches than a coach so it comes down to intent of outcomes at a high level. I like his intent, I like the fact his Allblacks are really driving the outcomes however as he's pointed out the high error rates are not test level and their control of the game is driving both wins and losses. England didn't have to play a lot of rugby, they made far fewer mistakes and were extremely unlucky not to win.


In fact the English team were very early in their season and should've been comfortably beaten by an Allblacks team that had played multiple tests together.


Razor has himself recognised that to be the best they'll have to sort out the crisis levels of mistakes that have really increased since the first two tests against England.


Early tackles were a classic example of hyper enthusiasm to not give an inch, that passion that Razor has achieved is going to be formidable once the unforced errors are eliminated.


That's his secret, he's already rebuilt the passion and that's the most important aspect, its inevitable that he'll now eradicate the unforced errors. When that happens a fellow tier one nation is going to get thrashed. I don't think it will be until 2025 though.


The Allblacks will lose both tests against Ireland and France if they play high error rates rugby like they did against England.


To get the unforced errors under control he's going to be needing to handover the number eight role to Sititi and reset expectations of what loose forwards do. Establish a clear distinction with a large, swarthy lineout jumper at six that is a feared runner and dominant tackler and a turnover specialist at seven that is abrasive in contact. He'll then need to build depth behind the three starters and ruthlessly select for that group to be peaking in 2027 in hit Australian conditions on firm, dry grounds.


It's going to help him that Savea is shifting to the worst super rugby franchise where he's going to struggle behind a beaten pack every week.


The under performing loose forward trio is the key driver of the high error rates and unacceptable turn overs due to awol link work. Sititi is looking like he's superman compared to his openside and eight.


At this late stage in the season they shouldn't be operating with just the one outstanding loose forward out of four selected for the English test. That's an abject failure but I think Robertson's sacrificing link quality on purpose to build passion amongst the junior Allblacks as they see the reverential treatment the old warhorses are receiving for their long term hard graft.


It's unfortunately losing test matches and making what should be comfortable wins into nail biters but it's early in the world cup cycle so perhaps it's a sacrifice worth making.


However if this was F1 then Sam Cane would be Riccardo and Ardie would be heading into Perez territory so the loose forwards desperately need revitalisation through a rebuild over the next season to complement the formidable tight five.

28 Go to comments
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