Meet Joe Schmidt’s and the provincial coaches’ new boss

David Nucifora cracked two jokes on his introduction to the Irish media yesterday.

One of them was by way of reply to a question about how long the IRFU’s new Performance Director would be hanging around.

“Depends how cold it gets,” said the Australian.

He may have been talking about the infamous Irish weather, but that could just as easily relate to the warmth of the welcome he receives after his five-year contract with the union kicks in as of June 1.

After all, the Australian will be assuming a role that allows him a finger in every part of the professional game’s pie. Consultation and diplomacy will be required but his will be the all-seeing eye. The buck will stop at his desk. He will, ultimately, be the boss.

Joe Schmidt will answer to Nucifora.

So will the four provincial coaches and the underage representative coaches. Player contracts, movement of personnel between provinces and career pathways for those inside and outside the white lines will be just some of the other boxes to be ticked.

Hard decisions will have to be made even if there was much talk of alignment, meetings of minds and sharing of information from Nucifora and IRFU chief executive Philip Browne, who pointed out that the creation of the role stemmed from a review of the 2011 World Cup performance.

“Everyone was agreed — and is agreed — that this is the way forward,” Browne claimed. “Yes, there are going to be areas of tension and that is something that we’ll have to manage. I’m confident David can use his experience to manage those areas.

“There is enough goodwill out there to make this work. Everyone agrees that the national team has to have some primacy in the whole situation, given that that’s where our income is derived from.

“It needs to work.”

Nucifora’s appointment is an historic one for an organisation still freeing itself from the last chains of amateurism.

The new Performance Director will assume many of the responsibilities which amateur committees have somehow managed to hold onto all this time. To paraphrase Browne, it is now time for professionals to be managed by professionals.

Nucifora arrived in the country last Monday with his wife and two of his three teenage kids. House-hunting is high up on the agenda before he returns to Australia next week.

So, too, is rugby.

Yesterday afternoon saw him take in the U19s tie between Ireland and France in Dublin. Tonight will involve a trip to the RDS to watch Leinster host Treviso while his first day in office come the summer will be spent in New Zealand.

Ireland’s U20s will be appraised there at the Junior World Championship, after which it will be on to Argentina to link up with Schmidt’s senior side. Only then will he return here to begin the process of knitting the professional game together.

Alignment was indeed the key word used yesterday, although he drew the line at adopting a unified tactical and technical approach for the four provinces and the national selections. And he should know what he is talking about.

Nucifora held a similar role with the Australian Rugby Union for three years, but is more eager to ape the culture of openness and collective learning he encountered among the wider rugby fraternity in New Zealand while head coach of Auckland.

That won’t be straightforward. Provincial rivalry is what it is, and Keith Earls admitted as much some months ago when voicing his fear of giving away too much in national camp lest it come back to haunt them at club level.

“I’m not naïve enough to think that self-interest here within the teams doesn’t exist,” said Nucifora who, aside from Schmidt at the Blues, has previously worked with the likes of Les Kiss, Rob Penney and Mark Anscombe.

“I’m sure it does, but... my role is to work with those coaches and organisations in the provinces to try and make sure that the decisions that are made aren’t just beneficial to the national team, they’re beneficial to them as well. That’s the best way to get buy-in.”

Chief among his aims is the desire to ape the Australian model of ushering players through to the top ranks earlier, something which will be music to many Irish ears. Sitting on benches, he said, is in no-one’s interest.

More detailed thoughts on the movement of players between the provinces were couched in vague responses, however, although he was clear on his desire to leave a legacy of a smooth and consistent player development pathway.

Quite the in-tray, all told.