Schmidt to pursue world’s best

Kidney’s ability to attract South African Gert Smal and Australian Les Kiss into his brains trust back in 2008 was considered a major coup at the time and played a key part in Ireland claiming the Grand Slam in the ticket’s first season.
The contracts of those men who worked alongside Kidney this year — Kiss, Smal, Anthony Foley and Mark Tainton — will expire at the end of June and IRFU chief executive Philip Browne said Schmidt would be working off a “blank sheet of paper” in building his backroom team.