Browne: Coach and IRFU not at odds

IRFU chief executive Philip Browne insisted yesterday that reports of a major difference between the governing body and Joe Schmidt over the role of one of the union’s committees have been greatly exaggerated.

It had been claimed the Kiwi held reservations over the fact his predecessor as Ireland coach, Declan Kidney, was expected to report to the National Team Review Group on the evenings before Test matches.

“I think you guys have made a big play on all of that,” said Browne. “The reality is, from our point of view, there are three blocs in the season: the autumn internationals, the Six Nations and the [summer] tour. The reality is we debrief and review at the end of each of those blocs, as any good organisation would.

“I think what you’re referring to is a facility which was offered to us by Declan. To be fair, I went to one or two and said ‘listen, I’ll let the people who know a little bit more about it than me sit in on it’. At the end of the day, the key reviews and debriefs are really at the end of each bloc, when we can get whatever learnings we can to improve for the next bloc.”

It is widely held that Schmidt possesses strongly-held views about other aspects of the wider structures under which the professional game operates in Ireland but he described discussions with the IRFU during the interview process as “really productive”.

Like all coaches who have worked here, Schmidt has had to adapt to the vagaries of the IRFU’s player management scheme which sees the availability to the provinces of key, international players dictated by an ‘Ireland-first’ policy that doesn’t always suit.

It was hardly surprising to note that he spoke of having a “broader view of things” after being affirmed as national coach and, indeed, one wag described his new role in that particular regard as that of poacher turned gamekeeper.

“Debate is pretty positive so long as you get an outcome at the end that takes account of different perspectives but has an overall perspective that the national team has precedence,” he explained.

“All the coaches at the provinces ceded to that but they’re also pretty keen to make sure they guarded their own patch as well. That will inevitably continue. Being part of the poachers, I had reasonably positive working relationships.”

Schmidt spoke of the healthy relationships he has harboured with all of the other current provincial coaches, including Munster’s Rob Penney who held very different views to his fellow countryman after the recent controversy involving Paul O’Connell and Dave Kearney.

However, the pair texted “fairly congratulatory” messages to one another after their European games last weekend and both will expect to work under a new professional game board and director of rugby in the near future as the IRFU implements its ‘Plan Ireland’ document.