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Schmidt: I will miss this immensely

Joe Schmidt is reportedly poised to join the All Blacks (PA)

An emotional Joe Schmidt conceded he will miss being in the dugout at the Aviva Stadium after taking charge of Ireland in a home Six Nations match for the last time.

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The New Zealander is stepping down from the role after this year’s Rugby World Cup and led his side to a 26-14 victory over France on Sunday to keep alive the defence of their Six Nations title.

Asked if he will miss being on the touchline in Dublin, Schmidt told Virgin Media: “Immensely, immensely.

“It’s been six incredible years for me. I’ll miss it.”

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With Ireland’s championship hopes hanging by a thread ever since their opening-game defeat to England, Schmidt identified a bonus point against France as a crucial objective.

It was one they achieved courtesy of tries from Rory Best, Johnny Sexton, Jack Conan and Keith Earls.

“We wanted to force our way through and get four tries,” said Schmidt, who saw his side concede two late tries. 

“And when we did, it felt like we buttoned off a little bit. I thought when the replacements came on, initially they did a really good job for us but the last 10 minutes we let a few things slip.

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“When you miss chances and still get four scores against a French side, you have to be pretty happy.

“After what happened that first weekend, to still be in the title race, it says a lot about this team.

“We’ve never used this many players in a championship before. We’ve never had to make so many early changes in a match or changes just before a match kick-off.

“From that perspective, it shows that we are building.”

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fl 1 hour ago
Gloucester respond to complaints over Russian flag

I don't listen to Nigel Farage. Really not sure where you'd be getting that from. Maybe you should stick to responding to what I've actually said, rather than speculating about my sources.


I'm not sure what you think Putin is going to do. He'll probably conquer Ukraine, but its taken him a long time, and cost him a lot of soldiers. Hitler overran France in a matter of weeks and then started bombing Britain. At this rate Putin might make it to Paris by 2080? I think he'll give up long before then!


I don't see what Stalinist language policy has to do with any of what we're talking about. De-Ukrainization took place in the 1930s, but the genocide of Palestine is taking place in 2025. If your argument is that the invasion of Ukraine is part of a longer history of Russian suppression of Ukraine then you might have a point, but that really just underlines the key difference between Hitler and Putin; Hitler wanted to dominate as much area as possible and so posed a threat to all of Europe, whereas Putin wants to force the assimilation of those who have historically been within the Russian sphere of influence, so only poses a threat to eastern europe and central asia.


"Read and think for yourself."

What would you recommend I read? On the genocide of Palestine I've found Patrick Wolfe's "Settler Colonialism and the Elimination of the Native" and Sai Englert's "Settlers, Workers, and the Logic of Accumulation by Dispossession" especially useful - they might disabuse you of the notion that what we are witnessing is an "authoritarian criminal syndicate" fighting a nation! - rather Zionist genocide is a largely democratic process, arising from a structure of settler colonialism which has no analogue in Ukraine.

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F
Flankly 1 hour ago
Six players Rassie Erasmus must hand Springbok debuts to in 2025

Sloppy piece by Josh. It should be Stormers, obviously.


Also:

David Kriel, who, like Hooker, is comfortable in both the midfield and the back-tree

Being comfortable in trees is kind of a quirky qualification for the Boks Office lads to emphasize.

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