Joe Schmidt linked to new coaching role with All Blacks

The former Ireland boss' first assignment, should he take up the post, would be a home series against Andy Farrell's men next summer

Former Ireland coach Joe Schmidt is linked to a return to international rugby with the All Blacks

Ireland’s three-test summer tour to New Zealand is about to get a whole lot more interesting given the report that Joe Schmidt is set to join the All Blacks’ coaching staff.

News that the former Leinster and Ireland head man is about to link up with Ian Foster’s brains trust as a selector has surfaced on the Kiwi media outlet stuff.co.nz which claims that Schmidt will replace the outgoing Grant Fox.

It’s only a few months since the highly-regarded Schmidt took on a part-time support role with the Blues franchise after a previous role with World Rugby so if the latest updates come to pass then he is clearly inching towards a return to the elite end of the game.

Schmidt announced late in 2018 that he intended retiring from coaching completely, and not just from his then role as Ireland head coach. It struck then as a strangely definitive statement to make, even as he stressed the desire to spend more time with his family.

He is still only 56 and, despite the dismal ending to his time in charge of Ireland, which ended with a terrible 2019 World Cup campaign, he still has enormous credit in the bank for the success he enjoyed in the northern hemisphere across more than a dozen years.

This isn’t the first time that Schmidt has been fitted for a blazer with the silver fern on the crest. Steve Tew, New Zealand Rugby Union CEO, confirmed in 2018 that they approached him with a view to replacing Wayne Smith on the AB’s coaching staff the year before.

That was when Steve Hansen was still the man in charge.

The Kiwis’ next test isn’t due until next summer, when Andy Farrell’s Ireland touch down at the end of a long and punishing European season for a trio of games against a side they overcame in superb fashion at the Aviva Stadium last month.

Farrell was a selector under Schmidt with Ireland and the cross-pollination of ideas between the two sides will extend to Greg Feek who is now scrum coach for New Zealand having held the same position with both Leinster and Ireland.

Another All Black selector, John Plumtree, served for a season under Schmidt as Ireland’s forwards coach almost a decade ago.

Schmidt’s inclusion on Foster’s staff would come at an interesting time with the head man under some pressure after a - for them - disappointing season in which they were beaten by South Africa and France as well as Ireland.