Schmidt controls exit down to the last detail

When you are a coach who pays the closest attention to the minutest of detail and leaves as little as is humanly possible to the vagaries of chance, the manner of your departure was never really going to be a dreaded uncontrollable.

Most of the challenges that Joe Schmidt has prepared for in his spectacularly successful five-and-a-half years as Ireland head coach have gone according to plan and yesterday’s announcement that he was walking away not just from the Ireland job but coaching altogether was another example of his forensic approach to decision-making.