Nucifora: No rush to nail down Schmidt

Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt will not be rushed into new contract talks ahead of the November Tests, insists IRFU Performance Director David Nucifora.

Schmidt is halfway through a three-year deal signed in April 2013 following the departure of predecessor Declan Kidney. Yet, the New Zealander, who guided Ireland to the RBS 6 Nations title at the first attempt last season, having won three European trophies in three campaigns as Leinster boss, is one of world rugby’s hottest coaching properties. Interest in his services is sure to soar higher after the 2015 World Cup, which concludes just 54 weeks from now.

With England setting a precedent recently by tying down their head coach Stuart Lancaster to a six-year contract, the IRFU may be persuaded to follow suit, but new performance manager Nucifora, Schmidt’s immediate boss and a former coaching colleague of the Kiwi’s at Auckland Blues, said it would not be happening in haste.

“Ah look, at the moment we haven’t started talking to Joe about contracts or an extension, yet,” Nucifora said. “We are letting the guy concentrate on his situation now, preparing for November. That’s the only thing that is on his mind at the moment. He is able to, when he needs to, focus totally on what is in front of him.

“It would be unwarranted to talk to him about anything else at the moment.”

Ireland unexpectedly lost the services of forwards coach John Plumtree — he returned to his native New Zealand this summer after less than a year in that post — and the IRFU have agreed to let defence coach Les Kiss take the director of rugby position at Ulster after the World Cup. Losing Schmidt to headhunters at the same time, possibly to the All Blacks, would be tantamount to disaster, but Nucifora said everything was under control.

“I think you have to be aware of a lot of things, so you don’t take your eye off the ball, but, at the same time, you deal with what you’ve got to deal with at the time.

“Obviously, he and I are in dialogue all the time, so I have a fairly good understanding what he is thinking. We will deal with things when the time is right.”

Nucifora, who came to the newly-created IRFU job last May, having served in a similar position at the Australian Rugby Union, said he had a solid and long-standing working relationship with Schmidt going back to their Auckland days.

“Yeah, we spent a number of years working together down there as coaches, so we know each other. We went on and have done different things since then, different experiences and now find ourselves working together again.

“It’s really important in my role and a role like this that the head coach and I have a really good understanding.

“It was an influence on me taking this job, because I rate Joe very highly, he’s a very good coach, very well organised, and that’s important. For me, knowing you’ve got a head coach there that understands the game, understands both short and long-term issues is really important. It makes doing my job a heck of a lot easier when I got a coach like that there running the national team.”