{"id":179818,"date":"2025-11-14T06:02:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T06:02:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/179818\/"},"modified":"2025-11-14T06:02:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T06:02:11","slug":"joe-schmidt-back-on-familiar-ground-as-wallabies-face-ireland-in-dublin-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/179818\/","title":{"rendered":"Joe Schmidt back on familiar ground as Wallabies face Ireland in Dublin \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Back in the country where he helped to transform Leinster<\/a> and Ireland<\/a> into global powers for almost a decade, Joe Schmidt<\/a>, and his Wallabies<\/a> squad, appear to have had a restorative week. And a badly needed one too after their 26-19 loss to Italy last Saturday.<\/p>\n

After the game, which was their 13th Test of the year, Schmidt admitted their performance in Udine had been \u201cflat\u201d, the effects of which also lingered on him. <\/p>\n

\u201cI take it pretty hard when we lose and I even take it pretty hard when we don\u2019t play to our potential because that\u2019s all we can control,\u201d he said after announcing his team to face Ireland at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday (kick-off 8.10pm).<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause some of these teams are so good, sometimes they\u2019re just better than we are on the day, even though on the day we\u2019ve delivered a good performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo yeah, it is tough and you\u2019re emotionally connected to the job. It\u2019s one of those privileges of being so invested in something but it\u2019s also a blight when things don\u2019t go well.\u201d <\/p>\n

Australia skipped training on Monday to \u201crefresh\u201d the squad before having \u201ca really good day on Wednesday\u201d, Schmidt said, adding: \u201cOur friends at Portmarnock let the boys on for a hit, and they weren\u2019t the only golf club. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a couple of them where the boys managed to get themselves out there and Dublin turned on the weather for them,\u201d Schmidt said with a wry smile, at least grateful they\u2019d played in the morning.<\/p>\n

A sodden pitch at Wanderers RFC also prompted a late change of venue to Blackrock on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWanderers were super to us but Blackrock College, really big appreciation to them for opening up at the last minute. At 10.47pm, we made the decision last night that Wanderers was just too sodden. And Blackrock were very quick to invite us and the training pitch was first-rate. <\/p>\n

\"AllanAllan Alaalatoa at Australia Rugby squad training at Blackrock College in Dublin. Photograph: Tom Maher\/Inpho <\/p>\n

\u201cAs a Terenure man, that was a really big favour,\u201d Schmidt added, aware that the big D6W derby between Terenure and St Mary\u2019s \u2013 the top two in AIL Division 1A \u2013 is taking place at Lakelands Park on Saturday, though he won\u2019t have time to attend. <\/p>\n

Schmidt also met former Irish team manager Mick Kearney on Wednesday. \u201cWe had some of Keith Earls\u2019s coffee; it was real nice. There\u2019s always a little bit of banter, and I\u2019m catching up with Rory Best tomorrow.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy brother [Jamie] lives in Blackrock. My son [Tim] is back living in Churchtown after a few years in Melbourne. I caught up with the family on Tuesday for a bit of dinner. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that\u2019s part of the balance as well. Family is always a great distraction and opportunity to just be able to step outside the bubble you\u2019re in, which can eat away at you a little bit, and breathe for a few hours.\u201d <\/p>\n

Schmidt has made six changes to his team for Saturday, with a couple more recalls on the bench, and on balance they look stronger. Carter Gordon, having made an encouraging return after a two-year segue into league, was their fifth different starting 10 of 2025 but succumbed to their outhalf curse by incurring a quad strain.<\/p>\n

\"Joseph-AukusoJoseph-Aukuso Suaalii of Australia makes a break from Italian players during their Quilter Nations Series game in Udine, Italy on Saturday. Photograph: Timothy Rogers\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

So James O\u2019Connor, called into the squad after a holiday in Morocco and some TV punditry, is restored at outhalf, where he helped steer the Wallabies to their stunning win in Ellis Park. The brilliant Max Jorgensen and Len Ikitau are also restored at fullback and centre, as is tight head Allan Alaalatoa and hard-carrying Rob Valetini, with turnover king Carlo Tizzano back on the bench.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Too many fans forget Joe Schmidt\u2019s selfless efforts in bringing Wallabies back from brinkOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Noting \u201csome really good glimpses\u201d by Ireland this month, Schmidt added: \u201cNot too many teams play 20 minutes without a player and they\u2019re ahead of the All Blacks even after 60 minutes, because those 20 minutes take it out of you.\u201d<\/p>\n

In this he cited the effects of suffering two yellow cards against the same opponents. \u201cYou lose a bit of fuel in the tank because they\u2019re always going to stretch you at the back end of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schmidt was always noted for his detailed dissection of the opposition, and his knowledge of the Ireland players ensured he revisited old habits. <\/p>\n

\u201cMack [Hansen] has got a really good skill set,\u201d he said. Having gone through pretty much every player (\u201cJeez, Bundee still packs a punch\u201d), Schmidt concluded: \u201cWe\u2019re going to have to be at the very best of our game to be competitive.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Back in the country where he helped to transform Leinster and Ireland into global powers for almost a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":179819,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[70904,18,19,17,34132,64661,132,4388],"class_list":{"0":"post-179818","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-andy-farrell","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-ireland-rugby","13":"tag-joe-schmidt","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-wallabies"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115546537833963919","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179818"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179818\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/179819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}