Joe Schmidt free to get back to business

It would have been some shock yesterday had the IRFU announced that Joe Schmidt was going to leave at the end of the season.

Instead, their confirmation that he has agreed to remain in place until after the 2019 Rugby World is hardly surprising, and just tidies up a bit of housekeeping which had dragged on a bit longer than either party intended.

The announcement is timely though, just as the focus switches to a busy autumn international series with two more cracks at New Zealand in search of that elusive win, along with the visit of Australia and Canada as well.