Three months ago Ireland revved up for their November series with Joe Schmidt reading out a long list of the walking wounded. The coach was rattled by what might happen against the Springboks if he did not have all hands on deck. By kick-off time his pallor had improved: the spine of the team was intact and Ireland went on to secure three wins in the autumn for the first time since 2006.
Schmidt’s popularity rating went through the roof and if you look at that spine going to Rome you settle on curvature as the best diagnosis. The coach has become preoccupied lately in applying a wet blanket to the fire of enthusiasm sweeping the nation. The prospect of back-to-back Six Nations titles, in a World Cup year, has quickened the pulse across Ireland’s sporting community. Hey presto, what comes next? Some calm to the storm.
This is his Schmidt’s fifth season in Ireland – three with Leinster, and his second with the national side – and it is the first time in either job he has had to cope without both Johnny Sexton and Jamie Heaslip in a major game. To add grist to the mill, in Sean O’Brien he has a horse of a man well short of a gallop, with only 50 minutes – against the Saxons – under his belt in four months; and the tighthead Mike Ross, out of favour with Leinster but in the loop with Ireland, is also struggling for air. Top it off with the absence of the Lion Cian Healy, and the scrum-half Eoin Reddan, and Schmidt has enough dampeners on his hands to calm the inferno of expectation.
We are not suggesting he has choreographed this to keep emotions at a manageable level. Statistically, however, he has a battle on his hands, for Italy have one Six Nations win over Ireland in 15 attempts, and one from 18 in all meetings over the same period. If those key players were not missing, Schmidt would be talking up the Italians to world-class status. Below the line he will deliver a different message. His success with Ireland – they won nine of 10 Tests in 2014, losing only to England – is predicated on a minutely-detailed system where everyone knows their roles to the letter, and the consequences are painful of not getting those right.
“He prepares the team well and makes our job easier,” Sexton said recently. “Some coaches judge on the outcome rather than the decision. If I decide to run the ball and we’ve an overlap, that’s the right decision [for Joe]; and if the guys on the outside drop it or make a balls of it, that will be their fault, not mine.
“So it’s great that I go into the game with a clear mind as to what he is looking for. But also, and a few of the guys have said this, you play the game with two voices in your head – your own, and his commentary. Make a mistake and you know you’re going to hear about it on Monday morning.”
On Saturday mornings the coach delivers a different message. From his days in New Zealand assisting the national schools side, through to Bay of Plenty, Auckland Blues and then Clermont Auvergne before arriving in Ireland, Schmidt has convinced his players that what he is giving them is the best on the market. So they should go out and sell it.
“I think you have to be confident –confidence, to a degree, is contagious,” Schmidt said. “If I show a lack of confidence in players, players are going to start questioning themselves. I’m very aware of the players who are missing and what they achieved last year – the player of the year in Andrew Trimble, the guy who broke the most tackles was Dave Kearney, Johnny [Sexton] scored the most points and the most tries as well.
“I’m confident but always with a degree of trepidation about how Saturday comes out because I think the Italian players will be highly motivated. I think they’ve worked really hard to prepare well but I think people underestimate the challenge that Italy will be.”
They would have if Ireland’s spine was in line. That it is out of kilter will soften their cough a little, and with a fly-half in Ian Keatley making his Six Nations debut after three Tests against minnows spread out over six years, there will be some unease about how it unfolds. A winning start and all bets are on again. With a raft of big names ready to return, Schmidt will be straight back in the containment business.
