On this day in 2013: Joe Schmidt appointed Ireland coach
Joe Schmidt was appointed Ireland head coach on April 29, 2013, beating off competition from Les Kiss and Ewen McKenzie to take the post.
Schmidt was promoted from Leinster, who triumphed in the Heineken Cup in 2011 and 2012 under the New Zealander, after the departure of Declan Kidney following Ireland’s limp fifth-place finish in the RBS 6 Nations.
Here, the PA news agency looks at the highs and lows of Schmidt’s reign:
LOW
A week after pummelling Samoa 40-9 in the 2013 autumn internationals, their biggest win over the Pacific Islanders, Ireland were brushed aside by Australia. They were then on the verge of a historic win over New Zealand in Dublin but Ryan Crotty’s converted try in injury-time saw the All Blacks triumph 24-22 to make it 14 victories in as many games that year.
HIGH
The agonising loss to the Kiwis did not dampen Ireland’s spirit, though, as Schmidt’s side won the Six Nations in 2014 and 2015. Either side of the championships, they demonstrated just how far they had come under Schmidt with victories over South Africa and Australia, completing a clean sweep of wins in the autumn internationals for the first time since 2006.
LOW
While Ireland topped their 2015 World Cup group with four wins out of four, they went into a quarter-final date against Argentina shorn of key performers Paul O’Connell, Johnny Sexton, Peter O’Mahony, Sean O’Brien and Jared Payne because of injury. The Pumas never looked back after opening up a 17-0 lead after 13 minutes and cruised to a 43-20 triumph at the Millennium Stadium.
HIGH
Ireland secured a first ever win on South African soil against the Springboks, prevailing 26-20 at Cape Town. South Africa edged the 2016 summer series with wins at Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth but Ireland then recorded their first success against New Zealand at the 29th attempt with a 40-29 victory in Chicago in November. Later that month a win over Australia meant Ireland became the first side since England in 2003 to defeat the Wallabies, New Zealand and South Africa in a single year.
HIGH
Ireland won the Six Nations for the third time under Schmidt in 2018 but this time defeated all comers to claim the Grand Slam for the first time in nine years. More history was to follow as they defeated Australia in two of three matches for their first series win Down Under since 1979. They then capped an incredible year by edging out New Zealand 16-9 in November, their first win over the Kiwis at Dublin.
HIGH
Ireland’s efforts over the course of the preceding months led to Schmidt being named World Rugby coach of the year but just a day later he revealed he would be retiring from coaching after the 2019 World Cup. However, a 19-10 win over Wales in his last match at the Aviva Stadium led to another first for Ireland, who made sure they would go into the global tournament as the top-ranked side.
LOW
As one of the sides heavily fancied pre-World Cup, it came as a shock when Ireland were beaten by tournament hosts Japan, who produced a performance for the ages to see off Schmidt’s side in Shizuoka. A second-place finish in the group left them with the daunting task of New Zealand in the knockout rounds. A 46-14 defeat extended Ireland’s run of never having progressed beyond the quarter-finals as Schmidt’s highly-successful spell ended on a bum note.
Press Association
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
26 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
26 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
26 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
26 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
26 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments