Ireland v Wallabies: Joe Schmidt does not expect to be ‘love-bombed’ upon Aviva Stadium return
Wallabies head coach Joe Schmidt ahead of their Test against Wales.
Wallabies head coach Joe Schmidt is excited by the prospect of facing his former team Ireland on Saturday but does not expect to be “love-bombed” at the Aviva Stadium.
Schmidt had a successful six-year spell as Ireland’s coach from 2013 and 2019 and under his guidance the men from the Emerald Isle won three Six Nations titles – in 2014, 2015 and 2018 – with the latter triumph also being a Grand Slam victory.
Prior to his stint as Ireland‘s boss, the New Zealander also gained success with Leinster as they won two Champions Cups and a Challenge Cup title during his stint with the Irish province between 2010 and 2013.
Despite those accolades in the Test arena and at club level, Schmidt does not expect the home crowd to make a big fuss over him on Saturday.
‘Will be nice to get back there’
“I know the Aviva pretty well and that will be nice to get back there, albeit in a different changing shed,” he said after the Wallabies‘ defeat to Scotland at Murrayfield last week.
“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.”
Schmidt is set to go up against his former assistant Andy Farrell, who took over Ireland’s coaching reins when he stepped down from the head coaching position after the 2019 World Cup in Japan.
There has been plenty of hype around Saturday’s Test as Farrell will also coach the British and Irish Lions when they take on the Wallabies in their three-Test series in Australia next year.
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Farrell was full of praise for Schmidt and highlighted the 59-year-old’s achievements during his time in charge of Ireland’s national team.
“He’s the most successful coach in Irish rugby when you look at his time overall in Dublin,” he said. “That experience that I’ve gained under Joe, seeing how he does it on the inside, is invaluable.”
Prior to taking charge of Leinster, Schmidt served as assistant coach under fellow Vern Cotter from 2007 to 2010 at Top 14 outfit Clermont.
‘He can analyse the game but also the players’
“Joe has a good brain, he can analyse the game but also the players,” Cotter told AFP. “Their traits, skillsets, weaknesses and strengths.
“He uses that to both analyse the opposition for opportunities but also his own team to improve.”
Schmidt replaced Eddie Jones as Wallabies coach at the start of the year after the two-time Rugby World Cup champions endured a disastrous campaign at last year’s global showpiece in France.
The Wallabies made a good start under Schmidt as they claimed back-to-back victories over Wales in Australia and also beat Georgia in a one-off Test on home soil in July.
Those early successes proved a false dawn as they struggled during their Rugby Championship campaign and eventually won just one out of six matches as they finished at the bottom of the table in that tournament.
They bounced back with successive victories over England and Wales in their first two Autumn Nations Series Tests but their Grand Slam dreams were shattered when they lost to Scotland last week.
