Joe not yet ready for Ireland’s call

Leinster coach Joe Schmidt has left the door ajar on coaching Ireland in the future — but says his current job “is pretty fulfilling and all-encompassing”.

The hottest coach in European rugby is being widely tipped as Declan Kidney’s successor on the national ticket but in an interview with Donal Lenihan is a special 48-page Heineken Cup season preview, with tomorrow’s Irish Examiner, Schmidt reveals: “I’m not saying that if the Irish job came up I wouldn’t entertain it. I’d be flattered if they [the IRFU] thought I had something to offer, but I’ve got a super playing and management staff at Leinster. We complement each other and I have benefited from that.”

Schdmit was asked by Lenihan would he make himself available if the union came calling: “Not at the moment. [But] it would be a super opportunity as there is a good group there; Declan has a good group of coaches, especially Less Kiss and Gert Smal. I don’t set goals and the immediacy of what I am doing is pretty fulfilling and all-encompassing.”

New Zealander Schmidt also admitted to being a “bit of a Keith Earls fan”, but also said that if he could nationalise one Irish player for the All Blacks, it would be a Leinster man.

“I was talking to [All Black] Jerome Kaino after the tests in June and we both said that Sean O’Brien would be right up there, while Cian Healy wouldn’t be far behind.”

Schmidt also nodded in the direction of Kilkenny hurling star Tommy Walsh, who he watched in the All-Ireland final. “What a player. I thought he was the difference.”

nDon’t miss our 48-page Heineken Cup season Guide with tomorrow’s Irish Examiner