GAVIN CUMMISKEYtalks to incoming Leinster coach Josef Schmidt, who hopes to leave France this summer with Clermont as Top 14 champions
INCOMING LEINSTER coach Joe Schmidt is off to Paris this weekend as Clermont Auvergne meet Stade Francais in what has become an obsessive quest for the Bouclier de Brennus, the French domestic title that has agonisingly alluded them at the final hurdle for the last three seasons.
The incoming Stade coach, of course, is Michael Cheika, and the multi-cultural Parisian side will see the Clermont scalp as the ideal opportunity to stop what has been an alarming slide down the French table. At this juncture, if Cheika wants to be coaching a Heineken Cup team next season Stade might have to win the competition.
Schmidt moves to Dublin in July with his wife, Kelly, and four children. By then, little ironies like Saturday week’s meeting between Clermont and Leinster at the RDS will be consigned to history.
The last time the Schmidts lived in the province was an 18-month sojourn in Mullingar in the early 1990s when Schmidt was player coach.
“I remember on the day we had to fly home we managed to beat Carlow in Carlow. We had never managed to do that before so they were pretty happy about that. I went straight to the airport from the ground.
“We had a great time in Mullingar because it was before my wife and I (Kelly) had the kids. I was going home to my teaching job at Palmerstown North Boys High. As a lot of Kiwis do, we were on our OE (overseas experience).
“We still have good friends in Mullingar. There is a bunch of them coming over to visit us the week after the quarter-final for the Castres game.”
This early return has probably made life a little awkward for the 44-year-old Kiwi, but he is too professional and too genuine a man to let it become a concern.
The Top 14 remains top of the agenda this week, especially with head coach Vern Cotter forced home due to family bereavement, leaving Schmidt in control.
Cotter will be back before next week’s quarter-final, but Schmidt describes the partnership/ friendship as “collaborative” anyway.
They are a proven partnership since guiding the unfancied Bay of Plenty to the Ranfury Shield in 2004. The NZRFU rewarded them by splitting them up – Cotter was sent to look after the Canterbury pack and Schmidt got the golden prize of a stellar Auckland backline, each one an All Black besides the young Isa Nacewa.
“And Isa would have been if not for four minutes playing for Fiji in the World Cup. The All Black management certainly tried to overturn that.”
He knows the Leinster forwards coach Jonno Gibbs and welcomes the arrival of scrumhalf Isaac Boss this summer from Ulster, although he has never worked with or coached the fellow New Zealanders.
“I know Stan Wright a little bit because we were keen to get him into training camp at the Blues. I know David Nucifora really felt he had potential as long as you could get him into the right condition which Leinster have seemed to have done. I think he has added a real bit of value.”
Once the season is over and Cheika departs, the focus can switch to the unfurling of the Schmidt regime, but he is not overly interested in mass renovations.
“I’d really like to keep a lot of things consistent if I can. Obviously, it is a formula that has worked quite well, but obviously the formula has to keep progressing at the same time. Unfortunately, I’m not sure what Kurt McQuilkin (backs coach) is going to do. I’d certainly like him to be there.
“I thought when I get over there for the quarter-final I might have one more crack at convincing him to stay. We’ll see what he says.
“I have been looking at some of the back-up players and the academy players. I watched the Irish under-20s in the Six Nations. It was a good opportunity to see (Andrew) Conway and (Brendan) Macken. Those guys have been impressive. I think that Irish team was impressive. Rhys Ruddock, Mike Ruddock’s son, as well.
“I’m aware the top players will have some fairly heavy commitments with the Irish team leading up to the World Cup next year so it is really important to see the value of the younger players.
“It can have a great spin-off to give them experience without breaking the fabric of the team too much.
“I’m excited about the whole package to be honest,” he said when asked about the chance to take yet another backline littered with world-class players under his well-travelled wing.
“I have, hopefully, enough well-founded confidence to bring a few ideas to help guys progress and to continue the form they have shown, for some of them, over the last 10 years.”
A few more tasks need attending to first. Beating Leinster in Dublin would be a start, but, in Clermont, Schmidt admits, domestic success remains the priority after losing the last three Top 14 finals.
"To be honest, if you asked our supporters they would overwhelming declare the Bouclier de Brennusas the major prize because after 10 finals and 98 years of trying to win it they would really like to get their hands on it. So, the European Cup has really been secondary.
“This year we did decide after three final (defeats in a row), well, if we can’t win one we may as well at least win through to the play-offs in the other competition and see how we go.
“We put a strong 15 out every time whereas in the past years we have very much rotated our squads for Heineken Cup games, which is in contrast to Leinster, Munster, Ulster and English Premiership teams.”
