Joe Schmidt

Welcome into the Saturday edition of Weekend Sport on Newstalk ZB, September 12.

Happy 61st birthday to one of the great rugby coaches, Joe Schmidt.

Happy 65th to former All Blacks hard man, Andy Earl.

And iconic Olympian, four-time gold medalist at the 1936 games, Jesse Owens, born on this date, 1913.

I don't think that was the main frustration.

I think the main frustration was moving away from a system that had been put up on a pillar under Joe Schmidt, and there was a huge connection with a lot of players as to the way Joe did things, and I don't think Matt ever managed to convince the majority to his way of thinking.

Um, and I said this before, Matt, I, I think he had a really fun and really interesting way of playing the game.

W- I really liked how he, his vision for how we played the game.

And that, to me, sort of, um, was reminiscent of Dan Sheehan's comments in the middle of last season when he said, "Yeah, we have gone to the coaches.

We wanna be a bit more, um, expressive." It kind of reminds me of Ireland in 2019 when Sexton went to Joe Schmidt, allowing the, the reins to be off.

So look, we'll see what, if that happens.

I know, I know we're gonna get on and talk about New Zealand and South Africa, but if you look at what New Zealand have done since Dave Rennie has come in, he's just released the shackles and gone back to the DNA of New Zealand rugby.

And, and Luke, you know, he's just like, "Can we just hang on a second?" And obviously there's one name that he just can't shake, and I think a lot of, um, people in Irish rugby, Leinster rugby can't shake.

So here was Luke.

Is the Joe Schmidt one just out of the question? He seems to have kind of ruled himself out, and obviously he's doing the kind of bit part with Ulster this year.

But he's an out of the box solution to this, and he's an unbelievable coach.

Dan.

Hi, Joe.

And William Slattery is here as well, of course, Will.

Hello, Joe.

So we got lots to get through, lots of emails.

How is everyone?

Good Joe.

Very good.

Like if you go somewhere like Robertson, there's no baggage.

Or you go Joe Schmidt, there's no baggage.

There's no reputation, but there's no baggage.

Or Cheka, no baggage.

that.

Can I add, just before you jump in there, Will, because it'd be good to get your opinion on this one too.

is the Joe Schmidt one just out of the question? He seems to have kind of ruled himself out and obviously he's doing the kind of bit part with Ulster this year.

But, like, that's an out-of-the-box solution.

But at the moment, I think he's just used this four-match block, hasn't he? Just to see different combinations.

really get to, you know, he would have been able to see how they were going under Joe Schmidt, but now he's been there in the hot seat for five, six weeks, and he'll come out with a much greater idea around what a squad could look like coming into a more difficult second half of the year.

Yeah, he's been big on the competitive tension, hasn't he? And Ben Donaldson hasn't had a start yet this year.

All his appearances have been off the bench.

I think the other thing is Ryan Lonergan goal-kicking takes off.

Yes, Carter Gordon will be getting some reps because you never know if an injury is going to strike throughout a game.

But the fact is that he's not being given the kicking duties like Joe Schmidt had given him back in that Ireland test, hadn't he? So...

Oh, it's a great opportunity for Ben Donaldson.

Let's be clear about that.

So, yeah, it'll be intriguing to see if Australia can continue to build on what they've already achieved under Les, who's taken over from Joe Smith.

um but you know in terms of being away as i was saying it's um you kind of feel like distance is a factor here isn't it the week is a very different look for those there than it is for those of us here and having to wait so long for an all-black team to come out is you know it feels impossibly long to me

yeah