Schmidt and Best deserved more fitting finale, says Payne

Jared Payne has insisted Joe Schmidt’s record as Ireland head coach is beyond reproach and feels sorry his fellow New Zealander and Rory Best are not leaving on the high they deserved. Payne was capped 20 times for Ireland under Schmidt, and played alongside Best for both Ulster and Ireland, and felt Saturday’s World Cup quarter-final mauling by the All Blacks was “mean”.

“What Joe has done with the Irish camp, the way he’s turned rugby round down there, it’s disappointing for them both to go out like that. Sport is a bit of a — call it something pretty mean that you can’t really call it — sport is not the nicest thing at times, unfortunately.