Joe Schmidt may be the assistant coach of New Zealand's rugby team, but he never appears at press conferences, and the Kiwi federation keeps him as far away from journalists as possible. During training sessions, his slim figure and grey hair are barely seen pacing the pitch, ball in hand and instructions in mouth. This discretion is in stark contrast to the key role played by the New Zealander in the All Blacks' plans for over a year.
As his men take on Ireland in the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals at the Stade de France on Saturday, October 14 at 9 pm, the 58-year-old will find himself in familiar territory. For six seasons, he coached Ireland, which he rescued from the ashes and set on the course that led to its status as one of the favorites for the title.
When the former English teacher took over the reins in 2013, the team had just finished second to last in the Six Nations Championship after humiliating defeats in Italy and Scotland, giving its worst performance in over a decade. In just a few seasons, Schmidt turned Ireland into the winning machine it is today. They won the next two Six Nations, took an unprecedented second place in the world rankings in 2015, beat New Zealand for the first time in 2016 and won the third Grand Slam in their history in 2018. These successes conferred on Schmidt the status of rugby icon among the Irish, an aura that was not to be dented by a failed final season, marked by yet another elimination in the quarter-finals of the 2019 World Cup.
The New Zealander has met success wherever he has gone. In the early 1990s, as a young player/coach, he led a modest country club to the top regional level. Then in France, when the duo he formed with his compatriot Vern Cotter propelled Clermont-Ferrand to their first Top 14 title in 2010, after ten failed finals. And again in Ireland, when he took over the reins of Leinster Rugby, taking them to top of the European Cup twice in three seasons.
All the players who crossed his path were impressed by this brilliant coach, with his encyclopedic knowledge and insatiable thirst for detail. "Joe knows more than other coaches. If you have a conversation with him he probably knows you better than you know yourself," half-joked New Zealand winger Mark Telea before the quarter-final against Ireland. "He really is just a true, passionate man of the game of rugby, and if you get caught in the hallways talking code with him it can take a while. You have to turn your head the other way sometimes to avoid that!" said his teammate, fly-half Richie Mo'unga. "If there is a professional game of rugby going on, he has seen it. If you call him and tell him about a play you have seen, he will know about it. He has a photographic memory about rugby," said Irish legend Brian O'Driscoll a few years ago.
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