Schmidt Article in IT today

Kev37

Interesting enough read, how does everyone feel he'll do?

GAVIN CUMMISKEY talks 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 Brennus as 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.”

andrewdcs

Has Kurt commented about his plans yet? He's been 'instrumental', (to drop a cliche) so hopefully he'll commit?

I think he'll do great, Clermont are superb this year (we can take em) like the focus on or U20s and he comes over as an honest appraiser (Top14 teams not really caring about the HEC)

Podge_irl

Kev37 wrote: »

“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'm not sure it can be emphasised enough how important it is for Schmidt to keep McQuilkan on the payroll. Leinster have, by an absolute absurd margin, the best defence in Europe. They conceded five tries in the HEC last year, five tries in nine games. Their defence is why they beat Harlequins. They managed to concede 6 tries already in the HEC this season, but yet only conceded 60 points - the next best defence conceded 92. Leinster are on top of the ML because of their defence. They have no try bonus points (the only team other then Connacht and Scarlets with such an accolade), have scored fewer tries than anyone except Connact yet are on top because they have conceded 36 points fewer than the next best defensive team. They've gone three games in a row without letting in a try against Munster. It's a thoroughly ridiculous defensive record and a long, long way from where Leinster where 3/4 seasons ago.

thehighground

Podge_irl wrote: »

I'm not sure it can be emphasised enough how important it is for Schmidt to keep McQuilkan on the payroll. Leinster have, by an absolute absurd margin, the best defence in Europe. They conceded five tries in the HEC last year, five tries in nine games. Their defence is why they beat Harlequins. They managed to concede 6 tries already in the HEC this season, but yet only conceded 60 points - the next best defence conceded 92. Leinster are on top of the ML because of their defence. They have no try bonus points (the only team other then Connacht and Scarlets with such an accolade), have scored fewer tries than anyone except Connact yet are on top because they have conceded 36 points fewer than the next best defensive team. They've gone three games in a row without letting in a try against Munster. It's a thoroughly ridiculous defensive record and a long, long way from where Leinster where 3/4 seasons ago.

I agree that Leinster have an awesome defense, but it should be pointed out that Munster have conceded one less try (17) than Leinster (18) in the Magners. Munster is the top try scoring team in the Magners as well with 30 to Leinster's 20. Giving away penalties is what is really killing Munster on the scoreboard.

Podge_irl

thehighground wrote: »

I agree that Leinster have an awesome defense, but it should be pointed out that Munster have conceded one less try (17) than Leinster (18) in the Magners. Munster is the top try scoring team in the Magners as well with 30 to Leinster's 20. Giving away penalties is what is really killing Munster on the scoreboard.

A defence that consistently gives away penalties isn't a good defence. It is an odd situation to be in though. I never thought I'd see the day when Munster where the top try scorers and Leinster were the pragmatic but successful team. Leinster clearly have the skills and temperament to achieve great scores - look at the last score against Brive as an example. They're just not putting it together consistently for whatever reason. They are still winning though, which is the main consideration. They are miles ahead of anyone else in the Magners, which is a great testament to their squad.

RuggieBear

there was an article somewhere today where Gibbes intimated that Leinster were not scoring tries as the opposition would rather kill fast ball and concede penalties when playing us

Leinster have won the most penalties in the ML and Gibbes reckons teams are conceding bucket load of penalties against us in an attempt to stop the running attacking game employed by the team.

thehighground

RuggieBear wrote: »

there was an article somewhere today where Gibbes intimated that Leinster were not scoring tries as the opposition would rather kill fast ball and concede penalties when playing us

Leinster have won the most penalties in the ML and Gibbes reckons teams are conceding bucket load of penalties against us in an attempt to stop the running attacking game employed by the team.

Gibbes is right. And as an example, I think both the penalties that DOC & ROG gave away on Friday would more than likely have ended up as tries for Leinster.

RuggieBear

perhaps the doc one but for the match winning penalty i think rog genuinely thought the ball was not in the ruck...i'd have to have a gander at both incidents again to see if they were decent try scoring chances and how cynical the concessions were

[Jackass]

Munster did that in the RDS a lot as well. It is very frustraiting to play against. I remember one incident right under the posts and Munster killed the ball. Should have been a yellow. But we took 3 and went back to half way.

It's ironic that our try count is so low, in part, because teams are afraid of us scoring tries.

I think the best example of a team who tried to actually play Leinster was Scarlets...they tried to match a running rugby, high tempo game, and I think we put 6 or 7 tries past them that day.

It'll be a different kettle of fish in the Heineken Cup though. Teams like Clermont and Toulouse have so much attacking flair and are more than capable of going toe to toe with us on that stake, it will make for a very interesting game.

thehighground

Podge_irl wrote: »

A defence that consistently gives away penalties isn't a good defence. It is an odd situation to be in though. I never thought I'd see the day when Munster where the top try scorers and Leinster were the pragmatic but successful team. Leinster clearly have the skills and temperament to achieve great scores - look at the last score against Brive as an example. They're just not putting it together consistently for whatever reason. They are still winning though, which is the main consideration. They are miles ahead of anyone else in the Magners, which is a great testament to their squad.

Being consistent is difficult enough because of the season being interrupted by the AIs and 6Ns - and when Leinster & Munster have most of their first team involved it must make it very difficult at club level to get a run going.

Schmidt was claiming in the last day or so that the recent erratic form of CA in the Top 14 is down to supplying 7/8 to the international side. (Clermont are 4th at the moment with Toulouse a point behind them).

danthefan

RuggieBear wrote: »

perhaps the doc one but for the match winning penalty i think rog genuinely thought the ball was not in the ruck...i'd have to have a gander at both incidents again to see if they were decent try scoring chances and how cynical the concessions were

Kind of irrelevant to be honest, Leinster still had a try scoring opportunity there and one way or another the penalty was given. I doubt it was cynical from ROG though as you wouldn't get more blatant than that.

Podge_irl

thehighground wrote: »

Being consistent is difficult enough because of the season being interrupted by the AIs and 6Ns - and when Leinster & Munster have most of their first team involved it must make it very difficult at club level to get a run going.

No doubt, but it's Leinster's squad and consistency in defence over the course of those periods that have kept them at the top of the league.

Leinster conceded 91 points over the course of 9 HEC games last year. It's why they won the championship. Even this year, with all the disruptions they've had in terms of injuries and Ireland squad call ups, they've only conceded 194 points in 14 games in the ML and 60 in 6 games in the HEC. Bar the Dragons game where Cheika, by his own admission, played too many academy players, they haven't conceded a try point bonus in a long, long time. They haven't conceded one in Europe as long as McQuilkan has been there.

danthefan

Podge_irl wrote: »

No doubt, but it's Leinster's squad and consistency in defence over the course of those periods that have kept them at the top of the league.

Leinster conceded 91 points over the course of 9 HEC games last year. It's why they won the championship. Even this year, with all the disruptions they've had in terms of injuries and Ireland squad call ups, they've only conceded 194 points in 14 games. Bar the Dragons game where Cheika, by his own admission, played too many academy players, they haven't conceded a try point bonus in a long, long time. They haven't conceded one in Europe as long as McQuilkan has been there.

Away to Toulouse at the end of 2007 as far as I remember.

I think Leinster have been taking a different approach to ML and HEC games this season. We've had no problem scoring tries in the HEC, in fact we scored as many tries in the 6 HEC pool games as the first 13 ML games of the season. The ML seems to be a case of grinding out wins without expending too much, without showing the best backs moves, etc, while the HEC is getting the full treatment.

profitius

Podge_irl wrote: »

A defence that consistently gives away penalties isn't a good defence. It is an odd situation to be in though. I never thought I'd see the day when Munster where the top try scorers and Leinster were the pragmatic but successful team. Leinster clearly have the skills and temperament to achieve great scores - look at the last score against Brive as an example. They're just not putting it together consistently for whatever reason. They are still winning though, which is the main consideration. They are miles ahead of anyone else in the Magners, which is a great testament to their squad.

Cheika learned quickly how to play winning rugby and I bet Munsters dominance thought him that. These days they go for alot of big physical players.

The irony now is McGahan is changing Munsters style to be like to old Leinster style so its no wonder Leinster are beating Munster now.

durkadurka

Great discussion guys. but nobody's picked up the vibe that the HEC is secondary to the top 14 for Clermont. Do we think their heart won't be in it? Or they won't play their first 15?
Or he won't want to p1ss off his new employers?

Podge_irl

durkadurka wrote: »

Great discussion guys. but nobody's picked up the vibe that the HEC is secondary to the top 14 for Clermont. Do we think their heart won't be in it? Or they won't play their first 15?

Clermont rested players in their game against SF ahead of their QF against Leinster. I don't doubt that the T14 is their primary goal, but over the next 2/3 weeks the Leinster game is what they're focusing on.

sock puppet

Podge_irl wrote: »

Clermont rested players in their game against SF ahead of their QF against Leinster. I don't doubt that the T14 is their primary goal, but over the next 2/3 weeks the Leinster game is what they're focusing on.

Well they have an important game the week after against Castres, which is a must win for them. They'll be focussed on both games no doubt.

danthefan

sock puppet wrote: »

Well they have an important game the week after against Castres, which is a must win for them. They'll be focussed on both games no doubt.

The T14 is their number one priority I think but the team selection and very indifferent performance against Stade definitely showed they have an eye on things to come imo.