What the Wallabies have made of Joe Schmidt's reception in Ireland

In Ireland, first, there was Saint Jack, and then there was Holy Joe.

After English soccer World Cup hero Jack Charlton had crossed the Irish Sea with his bluff, hearty, well-met approach – complete with fishing rod – to transform their national soccer team, a genial, seemingly gentler New Zealander materialised a few years later to do a similar makeover on their rugby outfit.

Charming, attentive, happy to engage, always prepared to go the extra mile for the sport on the island, taking it into the community … no wonder Ireland fell for Joe Schmidt.

Over a decade, this delightful schoolteacher taught their rugby teams at provincial (Leinster) and national level how to win the Six Nations (three), grand slams (one) and European Cups (two), while also fashioning the first win in 111 years over the All Blacks and a maiden win in South Africa.

He seemed to do it all with such a light touch, while also making the outskirts of Dublin his new home, that the blessed Joe really was made to feel like one of Ireland’s own.

So on his return, now guiding his Wallabies for Saturday’s Ireland-Australia Test, it’s been a bit of an eye-opener for his new charges to see just how beloved he is by the Irish public.

“Joe’s a superstar here. There’s a genuine love for the man in Ireland and it goes to show what sort of coach and what sort of person he his,” said prop James Slipper, marvelling at the warmth of the reception for the 59-year-old.

Schmidt’s old chief lieutenant on the field, Johnny Sexton, knew it was coming.

“Being with Joe, walking around Dublin, in a coffee shop with him, every single person comes up and greets him warmly, says great things about him,” Ireland’s old perfect 10 told the BBC. “Anyone who has ever met the guy says the same.”

Even Andy Farrell, his old assistant who’s succeeded him for Ireland and will tackle him as Lions chief, gushed what a “privilege” it was to learn the coaching ropes from Schmidt.

“He should be celebrated for everything that he’s done to Irish rugby,” boomed the Englishman.

Head-to-Head

Last 5 Meetings

Wins

4

Draws

0

Wins

1

Average Points scored

19

18

First try wins

80%

Home team wins

60%

The emotional stakes are being cranked up. Even Schmidt admitted on Thursday: “There’ll be apprehension, because I have that every week. I even have it before training! I try to be pretty transactional, pretty pragmatic on game day, but there’ll be some emotion in it for me …”

He couldn’t help laughing on hearing how Sexton reckoned he had Schmidt’s voice ringing in his head, long after he left. “I feel sorry for him,” laughed Joe, doubtless secretly chuffed to bits.

Yet, of course, he’s really far too canny to fall for all this Irish flattery.

He talks about wanting to have left “a legacy” in Irish rugby, and nobody’s disputing he’s done just that.

Yet running alongside his return this week, there’s also been a revisited debate there about just what went wrong in the dying embers of his reign, when the men in green fell short, hammered in their second World Cup challenge under him by both Japan and the All Blacks in 2019.

The suggestions, which reared up after he’d departed, were that his players felt the enthusiasm had started to be sucked out of them with Schmidt’s obsessive attention to detail eventually grinding them down.

Then there was his sharp put-downs – hard to imagine from such a sweet talker in the media – striking fear into them whenever they made a mistake that the perfectionist couldn’t abide in training.

“He’s a pretty scary character … I didn’t react well to being belittled or feeling scared. It wasn’t a good thing for me. I didn’t enjoy that. I know a lot of other players didn’t as well. Some people thrive on that. But he wasn’t a warm character,” former lock Dan Tuohy has since recalled.

Others echoed that idea with Brian O’Driscoll, maybe the greatest Ireland player of all, reflecting in the Off the Ball podcast this week how some squad members began to relax again and feel rejuvenated under Farrell.

“The slide just happened too much in ’19 and I don’t think it was a very happy environment at the very end,” said O’Driscoll, who has related how when, regarded as one of the best in the world, he once dropped the ball in training in Schmidt’s early days at Leinster, only to be ticked off: “The good ones don’t do that, Drico …”

While he embraced that sort of challenge, others just withered, but O’Driscoll is convinced Schmidt will only feed off any lingering idea that he blew it in his final days in Dublin.

“I’m sure (Schmidt) will store all of that, like anyone who has a point to prove does,” said O’Driscoll. “You’ve got to bring it up and try to channel it in a positive way. And he’s going to try to channel it this weekend with his new team.”

And for the moment, that new team just appear to adore him, with Tom Wright adamant on Thursday “he’s brought us really, really close together, particularly on this northern tour, we’ve seen a lot of fun in our time here. Absolutely the right man for the job.”

“Joe is definitely our man,” chipped in Slipper. “And I can confidently say most of the rugby public back home are very confident he is the man to take us forward.”

Could another rugby love affair be in the air?