Pray that Joe Schmidt returns for another run
For the players, the process of reintegrating themselves back into the daily bread and butter of club and provincial rugby starts all over again as domestic and European silverware become the focus for some, with qualification for Europe next season the only goal available to others.
After that Ireland, Wales and newly crowned champions England, all head off on hugely demanding, three test series to South Africa, New Zealand and Australia respectively.
In the relentless quest to keep the finances required to run the professional game rolling in, the turnstiles worldwide need to keep ticking over.
So after a testing and highly intense campaign where do Ireland sit at the moment? And what thoughts are running through the mind of Joe Schmidt, as he contemplates his future as Ireland’s head coach?
Schmidt admits he is not one for looking too far into the future, so when he openly declares that he will decide whether or not to extend his reign as Ireland’s commander in chief to the next World Cup in Japan in 2019 after the sojourn to South Africa, people tend to sit up and take notice.
By the time his current contract expires in June 2017, Schmidt will have spent seven seasons based in Dublin, three with Leinster (where he delivered four trophies) and four with Ireland with two Six Nations championships already under his belt.
Always a man seeking new challenges, he has further goals to target over the next eight months alone. Ireland have never beaten the Springboks in South Africa and never beaten New Zealand anywhere. These are the top items on the to-do list.
If he was to achieve that latter feat, would he be satisfied to move on? Beating New Zealand anywhere could prove a double edged sword for the IRFU. Schmidt is already very much on the radar of the New Zealand Rugby Union and they have never been slow to recognise that the experience gleaned overseas by their top coaches can be put to good use back home.
Their back to back World Cup winning sides of 2011 and 2015 were coached by two men - Graham Henry and Steve Hansen - who cut their teeth as international coaches with Wales. Hansen is set to step down as All Black coach after the Lions tour next summer.
A key factor for the NZRU however is that, up to now, the incumbent was back coaching in New Zealand when offered the most important seat of power in the country. By their own admission, the prime minister ranks a poor second to the national coach.
When Henry was first interviewed for the post, he had me down as a referee on his curriculum vitae after our shared experiences with the Lions in 2001.
In late December of 2003, I received a phone call from a lady in the NZRU wishing to organise a time for their chief executive to speak to me.
It was 2am in Auckland and only a few days before Christmas. In the midst of the festive cheer, I ventured to suggest that she working very late.
“Not at all,” she replied. “All we want for Christmas is a new All Black coach.”
They do take their rugby very seriously down there.
Schmidt has been outstanding for both Leinster and Ireland over his tenure here and why anyone would want to see someone else leading us into the next World Cup baffles me. When attempting to analyse how I feel Ireland will fare in advance of any international contest, regardless of the quality of opposition, I have to take cognisance of the Schmidt factor. In games where you feel Ireland will struggle to compete, the presence of Schmidt leads you to second guess the outcome.
He has the capacity to make decent players better and top quality players consistently excellent.
Keith Earls is a case in point. He was outstanding once again when winning his 50th cap against Scotland on Saturday. He is a quiet, modest young man and a model professional. It was typical of him to turn down the offer to lead out the team last weekend on such a notable milestone.
Given the injuries he suffered over the years, I dare say there were times when he never thought he would get anywhere near that mark. Injured for the majority of Schmidt’s first two seasons, he heard the stories from the Munster lads coming back into camp about how demanding the new coach was but how he also had the capacity to improve your game.
Schmidt offered clarity. He knew exactly what he wanted from his players and showed them what they needed to do to be selected on his team. Earls craved that and once he returned to the Munster side last season after his latest injury lay-off, he set his sights on making the World Cup squad.
Since making the cut, he has thrived in the environment. When winning the Six Nations championship in 2014 and 2015, an injured Earls observed from the outside as Dave Kearney and Andrew Trimble made the wing positions their own two years ago. Last season when, ironically, injury ruled both out of contention at the same time, Tommy Bowe and Simon Zebo stepped forward. With Zebo not ticking all the boxes for Schmidt, Luke Fitzgerald was recalled for the championship decider against Scotland in Murrayfield. With five players now stacked ahead of him in the pecking order, Earls must have feared for his international future.
Yet once he made the wider squad for the World Cup, he took everything Schmidt threw at him on board and has become the quality international player he always threatened to be when elevated to Lions status back in 2009. Ever present at the World Cup, he even surpassed Brian O’Driscoll as Ireland’s most prolific try scorer in the tournament when registering his eighth against Italy last October.
His all round game has improved immeasurably under the influence of Schmidt - specifically in defence and in ruck efficiency - as has Zebo’s. It may have taken a while but it appears the mercurial Corkman is beginning to grow on the New Zealander. Zebo offers a fresh attacking dimension from full back and that is now being recognised.
That said, Schmidt wouldn’t have him in the team unless he improved in some of the unglamorous elements of his game such as his defence, ball presentation in the tackle, ability to clean out at ruck time or support of the ball carrier.
While not as far up the food chain as Earls just yet, Zebo is getting there.
At a time when so many quality young players lurk on the horizon, think Ultan Dillane, Stuart McCloskey, Gary Ringrose, Josh van der Flier, Iain Henderson, Finlay Bealham, Stuart Olding, Matt Healy, Jack O Donoghue, even Ireland U20 captain James Ryan and more experienced campaigners like Luke Marshall and CJ Stander, I can’t think of anyone better placed to aid their introduction and development as international players.
In the circumstances, it may have proved beneficial to add one midweek game to the three test schedule in South Africa, as Warren Gatland has done for their trip to New Zealand, to expose some of those younger players to the vagaries of touring and garner some valuable experience against a different type of opposition.
Schmidt has the capacity to get the best out of players and in the comparatively limited pool that Ireland have available at the top level, that is crucial.
Eddie Jones is like a kid on Christmas morning at the moment given the comparative depth of resources - both playing and financial - available to him compared to his demanding but ultimately successful stint with Japan.
For Ireland to stay the pace with Jones and England over the next few seasons, one suspects it’s imperative to keep Schmidt on board. While some bemoan aspects of his game plan and selections, be careful what you wish for. Ireland need Schmidt more than he needs us. I suspect those in the know in New Zealand will await his post-South Africa deliberations with as much interest as we will.
