Joe Schmidt: Australia have a ‘fantastic opportunity’ to ‘topple’ the British and Iri

Story by David Skippers, Planet Rugby

Joe Schmidt has admitted that he has already been thinking about the Wallabies’ Test series against the British and Irish Lions, even though they will only face off in 2025.

Despite the tour being more than a year away and Schmidt only starting his job as the Wallabies’ new head coach at the start of March, he is aware of the magnitude of the challenge that awaits his charges and is determined to win the three-Test series against the famous touring team.

The Lions go on tours every four years, rotating between Australia, New Zealand and South Africa in order and the Wallabies will be out for revenge against the Lions as the tourists claimed a 2-1 series win when they last clashed with the Aussies in 2013.

“Yes, I’ve been thinking about it,” he said on the Kick Offs and Kick Ons podcast. “One of the challenges with that is getting the right to earn the support for those games because we’re going to be playing a team that’s comprised of four nations that are all ranked well above us.

“It’s one of the only times I can remember. The last time in 2013, you have Australia ranked in amongst them, if not above them.

“I see that as a fantastic opportunity. Imagine if we could topple them?

“You do think a little bit about it but you can’t trip over what’s immediately in front of you and that’s to get the best coaching staff and support staff, and then get the selections right as best you can.

“You will never get those all right because I’ve been coaching professionally for 20 years, and I keep making mistakes. It’s just the nature of it.”

Schmidt was non-committal when speaking about his backroom staff and said there wouldn’t be any announcements on his assistants for now.

“There won’t be any announcements in the next six weeks but we are getting closer. We’ll advertise for some of the positions and in other ones there are readymade applicants,” he said.

“That’s another exciting step. Once we get that, you’ve got sounding boards that you can bounce ideas off and you can start to get aligned.”

However, it was reported in the Australian media that experienced coach Laurie Fisher is set to join Schmidt’s coaching staff.

According to The Roar: “Twelve months after expressing his “disappointment” of not being allowed to continue the “journey with the Wallabies” under Eddie Jones, Laurie Fisher is set to return to the national set-up in one of Joe Schmidt’s first appointments.”

Meanwhile, Schmidt has already started keeping an eye on Australia’s players, although he realises that it will take some time before he knows who the best ones are.

“This is an open book, really,” he said. “I want to fill in as many of the words before I have to start reading something.”

He also spoke about the players who have impressed him so far and admitted that there are still plenty of games to watch before he would be able to select the best players.

He said, however, that he has kept an eye on some of Australia’s young fly-halves and been impressed with what he has seen.

“It fluctuates. It’s quite a long season, even though Super Rugby is a bit of a sprint. There are guys with individual performances, but what I really look for is guys who can repeatedly perform,” Schmidt explained.

“You’ve got to have an element of trust from coach to player and player to player. Players want to know that this guy is going to be able to deliver week to week.

“What I’ve seen in the glimpses, Tane (Edmed) did a super job. Getting back in a foot race with Sevu Reece is some sort of gas. I wouldn’t have previously thought about it with him.

“You’ve got other unsung guys like Hugh Sinclair who got the charge down, that’s just work ethic. That doesn’t take a huge amount of talent, it just takes a commitment to doing what’s best for the team. I love that sort of commitment.

“There are a couple of guys. You talk about Tane, you talk about Tom Lynagh. I thought Tom Lynagh controlled the game really well.

“He’s not a giant but he’s a gutsy little fella and took a couple of great high balls. He ignited a bit of counter-attack and again kicked well out of his hands.

“There was Carter Gordon turning the game. Even the previous week, I thought Noah, when he was up against Carter, had a good game.

“There’s a few guys that catch your eye one week or the next and then you’re just looking for them to stack that up.”