Rugby

Joe Schmidt in damp down mode after Irish victory

Coach looks to put things in perspective with a long way still to go before the World Cup

Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt attempted to put some perspective on Ireand’s first ever win over New Zealand on home soil. Photo: Charles McQuillan/Getty Images

Johnny Watterson's face
Johnny Watterson at the Aviva stadium
Sat Nov 17 2018 - 22:29

Even Joe Schmidt could not hold back the smile. No less measured than he always is, the thrum from the coach and his captain Rory Best seemed more vibrant and joyous than their words.

A special day and a special group of players, the praise for his Irish team was effusive but Schmidt is no coach to take giant steps forward when smaller ones are the surest way.

Beating the number one team in the world carries future expectations. But the World Cup is another entirely different challenge altogether.

“It’s one window on one day but we’ll take it,” said Schmidt of the win. “It’s the end of a long season for them. They’ve done a lot of travel,” he added dousing the euphoria with dollops of pragmatism pointing to New Zealand’s heavy load prior to the match.

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“We probably won’t look that far ahead,” he said of the World Cup in Tokyo next year. “People will postulate about who is where and who is favourites. It’s a nebulous thing for us. All we can work hard and go out and put in a performance.

“You are being called World Cup favourites... what can you tangibly take from that. They are a great bunch. It’s all about things that are tangible for them. We can’t control what people say.”

Schmidt added that as great for confidence as the win was, there were more things to improve and greater levels to attain in the drive to reach at least a semi-final of the World Cup.

“I’d certainly throw the cards back up in the air if we had to play them again. I think as a collective they (Ireland) are all really relieved,” added the coach.

Rory Best was still in post match mode. He knew what had just happened in Aviva stadium. But it seemed almost pointless to ask him to explain.

“It’s really hard to know what I feel at the moment,” said Irish captain. “I suppose it’s another little bit of history the squad has made for itself.”

There was no disguising the fact that Schmidt was pleased for his team, more for the effort and the dug in discipline Ireland showed as New Zealand pressed hard to get their scores especially at the end when they emptied the bench.

“I think there were some really special moments for us in that Test match,” said Schmidt. “It was a heck of a battle. I thought our guys held their discipline really well.

“It was great we kept in the system. It’s a pity we didn’t hold on to it (the ball) at the end. We had to work really hard in the end but it was pleasing that out lineout and scrum were good.”

But there was no stopping him from keeping the heart beat at a normal rate. Schmidt was truly in damp down mode.

“We are at home. They are on the back of a long series of games and travelled around the world,” he stressed. “We’ll take tonight. We had a lot of things stacked in our favour.

“They had three clear cut chances that they didn’t take and that we did take. I just feel it was a fantastic Test match and the way it was built up with one v two. There were three potential tries that we managed to scramble on. On another day they might have gotten one of two of those.”

Schmidt also spoke of the swollen crowds that greeted the team bus along the route as they left for Lansdowne Road from the Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin.

“We were conscious we wanted to deliver for those people,” said Schmidt. “I think we definitely did that. It is hard to pull some one guy in that group. It was certainly a meritorious effort.”