A phone call away, Schmidt no adviser but happy to help
Darren Walton |
The bad news is, Joe Schmidt has all but ruled out staying on as a consultant when he hands over the Wallabies coaching reins to Les Kiss next year.
The good news is, the sought-after New Zealand mentor is promising not to coach any of the Wallabies’ enemies at the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia.
The consensus was that Schmidt would stick around if his successor asked him to stay on in an advisory role.
But the 59-year-old, who has a son with epilepsy and is stepping down for family reasons, says that’s not in his plans.
Schmidt, though, insists he will only ever be a phone call away if his long-time friend and former Irish assistant coach Kiss ever needs some help.
“I had a guy I coached with ring me a couple of weeks ago,” Schmidt said on Wednesday.
“He asked would I look at their last two games and give them some feedback on some things that I see in their game and can I bounce a few ideas back to them – and I did that for him.
“So I have maybe a sounding-board remit that would be a friendship-oriented thing as much as a professional rugby formal involvement, just because I’ll stay interested in the game and I love the game.”
Schmidt has also given his word that he won’t return to the All Blacks after serving as an assistant coach to Ian Foster when his native New Zealand lost the 2023 World Cup final in France by a point.
As for ever coaching again, Schmidt is adopting the never-say-never line while leaning towards a more relaxed life back in his homeland.
“I don’t foresee that, but I know the privilege and I know how many people would love to do a job like this,” he said.
“It’s something that for a small-town kid born in Kawakawa, New Zealand, it’s been a fantastic opportunity for me, and those opportunities to see the world for my family has been great as well.
“So it’s not something that I’d ever rule out completely, but it’s definitely not my plans.
“The boat on the lake and trying to get my golf handicap down – which don’t ask me what it is at the present time – they’d be a couple of really ambitious goals that I’d have beyond the end of July next year.”
Schmidt had been due to finish with the Wallabies after this year’s Rugby Championship.
But RA’s offer to bring his family to Sydney more often was enough to sway the former Blues coach to remain until mid-2026 to allow Kiss to honour his contract to coach the Queensland Reds until the end of next season’s Super Rugby Pacific campaign.
“It’s funny, it seemed like a long time, but then by the time I’d already agreed to do TRC, it didn’t seem that much further into the future,” Schmidt said.
“And the friendship (with Kiss) that goes back a long way made that a lot easier and the family situation, the support from RA around just maybe getting the family over a little bit more often to Sydney where I’m usually based, that made it a little bit easier as well.
“I feel that I’m getting some balance and supporting probably my wife and her commitment to looking after our son and our son getting a bit of growth at the same time.
“I’m really happy with the outcome.”
AAP
