Son’s health situation to dictate Joe Schmidt future

He may be on the All Blacks’ watchlist but if Joe Schmidt does decide to return to New Zealand when his contract expires 12 months from now, the Ireland head coach will likely do so for more personal reasons.

Schmidt, whose three seasons in charge since succeeding Declan Kidney in 2013 have seen Ireland win back-to-back Six Nations titles in his first two campaigns and this month record a first ever Test victory in South Africa, has told his IRFU employers he will decide this summer whether to take the team forward beyond his current deal to the 2019 World Cup.

That is also the point at which the All Blacks will be looking for a replacement for their head coach Steve Hansen with New Zealand Rugby Union chief executive Steve Tew name-checking exiled Kiwi coaches Schmidt, Wales boss Warren Gatland and Scotland’s Vern Cotter at the weekend among the potential successors.