Ireland’s rugby jigsaw falling into place
The selection of nine Irish Lions underlines the relative strength of the game in this country and only serves to highlight that our lowly finish in this season’s Six Nations championship was due as much to the unprecedented injury travails that followed the squad throughout the tournament as any shortcomings in ability.
The universal approval that has accompanied Schmidt’s appointment is not only a vote of confidence in his ability to deliver but also an indication of the excitement his specific coaching skills can bring to the table. The one constant to follow Schmidt throughout his coaching career is that all the sides playing under his direction — be it Bay of Plenty, Auckland Blues, Clermont-Auvergne or Leinster — have all been great teams to watch. The structure and invention he has brought to the attacking side of those culturally different outfits has created a buzz about the potential for Ireland.
As if the intensity of international rugby wasn’t enough, this expectancy will undoubtedly attract even more pressure on the new appointee. Schmidt is a workaholic, but it will take him time to come to terms with the vastly different demands of coaching an international side with whom you have comparatively little contact compared to the hands-on approach that come with coaching a club side.
Given that Schmidt will operate on Ireland’s North American tour in the capacity of observer and with all the senior players on Lions duty, his first real involvement with the full squad is delayed until next November. He then faces a baptism of fire given that Ireland face Samoa, Australia and New Zealand on successive weekends. All of those sides are rated higher that Ireland in the current IRB rankings. In addition, all are very accomplished in attacking terms and pose a different type of challenge to that faced in the Six Nations.
At least the Irish players bound for Australia will have plenty insights to offer the new coach on the strengths and weaknesses of Wallaby rugby by the time they arrive at the Aviva Stadium. Schmidt still has much to focus on before that North American tour, with the prospect of delivering two final pieces of silverware to the Leinster trophy cabinet before moving office from Belfield to IRFU headquarters at Lansdowne Road.
Their game against Glasgow Warriors next Saturday is the pick of the two Rabo semi-finals with Gregor Townsend doing an outstanding job at the helm of the Scottish side since he succeeded Sean Lineen at the start of the season. They will seek to run at Leinster from the off and, with new Lions in Stuart Hogg and Sean Maitland, along with the electric Fijian Niko Matawalu at scrum-half, have the capacity to push Leinster all the way.
At this juncture, Leinster look odds-on to deliver a Rabo and Amlin Challenge Cup double which would bring a fitting end to Schmidt’s superb tenure with the province. Losing him to the national side is hardly ideal but they have wasted no time in identifying a suitable replacement. Leicester Tigers attack coach Matt O’Connor had already been lined up in the event of Schmidt’s elevation and within a few days of that happening had met senior players within the Leinster set-up. Thus his appointment on Monday came as no surprise.
Once again the Leinster professional board have displayed a willingness to go slightly left field by selecting a less familiar name but one who appears a perfect fit for their specific requirements. When Michael Cheika was plucked from the relative obscurity of club rugby in Australia where he was coaching Randwick in what was described at the time by Leinster chief executive Mick Dawson as “a calculated punt”, many questioned his appointment. Given that another surprise Aussie choice, Gary Ella, had struggled in the role, the jury was out on Cheika.
In the end, he proved a perfect fit, instilling the necessary steel and ruthlessness up front required to succeed in Europe. That enabled an already flourishing back division to prove even more influential and that mix delivered a first ever Heineken Cup in 2009. On Cheika’s departure, Schmidt challenged that backline even further and moulded them into the most potent attacking force the Heineken Cup has seen. One hopes that he can now do something similar with an emerging pool of talented young Irish backs, many of whom are now ready to challenge some of the more established players in the Irish set-up.
Schmidt will be a massive loss to Leinster, especially with Jonny Sexton also leaving for Racing Metro. In an effort to minimise the effect of that loss, Leinster have gone for a like-minded individual who learned his trade in the challenging surrounds of the Brumbies. They have been the great innovators in Australian back play since the days when George Gregan, Steve Larkham, Pat Howard, Joe Roff and Rod Kafer strutted their stuff. O’Connor is a product of that school and should slot seamlessly in Schmidt’s role with existing coaches Jono Gibbs, Richie Murphy and Greg Feek offering stability and continuity.
Meanwhile, Schmidt has the perfect opportunity to run the rule over the next generation of Irish players next month. Trips like that can prove invaluable to a new coach as it affords the perfect opportunity to get to know the players and assess who is willing to step up to the plate in leadership terms and drive the tour.
Schmidt has a chance to observe Craig Gilroy, Simon Zebo, Paddy Jackson, Paul Marshall and hopefully Robbie Henshaw up close and get to appreciate their strengths and weaknesses. The likes of Ian Madigan, Eoin O’Malley, Dave Kearney, Andrew Conway and Brendan Macken have already benefited from that when learning their trade behind the more established figures in Leinster.
While all the focus will be on Warren Gatland’s efforts with the Lions as they build up to their crucial opening test in Brisbane, keep an eye on what is going on out in Houston and Toronto as Ireland’s new supremo takes his first tentative steps towards the 2015 World Cup. It could prove every bit as informative as what is happening down in Australia.
