Nov 26,2024
Joe Schmidt reckons he'll be all business this week as he prepares his Australia team to take down Ireland.
Much of the talk in the build-up to the final game of the Autumn Nations Series, and the only Test of the weekend, will centre around Schmidt’s return to Irish shores as an opposing coach for the first time since departing as head coach in 2019.
But, after recording impressive wins over England and Wales, the Wallabies revival was dented with a 27-13 defeat to Scotland yesterday.
Schmidt led Ireland to three Six Nations titles in six years, a series success away to Australia, a first Test victory in South Africa and, most memorably, a maiden win against New Zealand after a 111-year wait.
After a spell with World Rugby as a technical director, Schmidt joined the All Blacks coaching staff in 2022 and was in situ for four meetings between the teams, including last year’s World Cup quarter-final win over Andy Farrell’s side.
"I know the Aviva pretty well and that will be nice to get back there, albeit in a different changing shed," said the New Zealander, who faces an Irish side who hammered Fiji 52-17 on Saturday.
"I'm really excited about getting back, I don’t know about being love-bombed.
"I coached against them a couple of times with the All Blacks and I think I was pretty unpopular there.
"I've swapped sides again and there'll be a degree of unpopularity.
"The way my family and I were looked after in Dublin was fantastic, and right around Ireland. It's a special place for us.
"We still have a home there and a daughter, I'm looking forward to catching up with her.
"It will be a nice week to get back there but there's only one game in town and that's about the footy, and trying to help these guys prepare as best they can."
Schmidt (above) took charge of Australia after their hapless World Cup campaign under Eddie Jones and has won six and lost six games so far.
With a stated aim of preparing the Wallabies for the Lions tour next summer, when he will again go head-to-head with Farrell, the 59-year-old reflected on progress to date.
"I think [the players are] starting to believe in themselves," said Schmidt, who was also in charge of Leinster when they won two Heineken Cups between 2010 and 2013.
"I don’t think necessarily that they did initially. It was a little bit of a deflated situation.
"I always said from the start it would never be linear.
"Because high performance — it just isn’t. There’s going to be days where it doesn’t go as well as you’d like it to go.
"I think we’re building a little bit of momentum. What I’m hoping is that people do see it as a real contest next July."
Australia conceded 14 penalties and missed 34 tackles as they gave up four tries and scored just one in Murrayfield.
"Our skill execution was a bit off today," said former Mullingar RFC player-coach Schmidt.
"We worked really hard in the first half, and I thought we defended really well. But second half, there’s a fair bit to tidy up."
The Wallabies boss is hopeful that two late withdrawals, hooker Matt Faessler (calf) and lock Jeremy Williams (calf), may be fit for the Aviva Stadium clash, while he will wait and see about star back Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, who suffered a wrist injury during the loss to Scotland.
