Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt won’t go anywhere after 2025 if his team is firing, particularly if they pull off an enormous upset and beat the British and Irish Lions.
Although he has only signed with the Wallabies until the middle of next year, Schmidt has had more farewell tours than John Farnham, and that is not meant in a mean-spirited way.
To continue the pop culture references, when he popped up again at the Wallabies, it was like the famous Al Pacino scene in The Godfather Part III, which was later given a new life in The Sopranos.
“Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in,” says Pacino’s exasperated character Michael Corleone, the mob boss trying to go legitimate.
But, regardless of when and how Schmidt eventually exits, his savvy recruitment of former All Blacks forwards coach Mike Cron shows that Schmidt intends to leave something meaningful behind.
You could probably count on half of one hand the number of coaches who would have had the sway to recruit Cron. That’s the Schmidt effect.
Mike Cron oversees the All Blacks scrum in 2016.Credit: Getty
On the other side of the Tasman, Cron is not just highly regarded as a technical master of his craft, he is synonymous with the All Blacks – and in particular synonymous with a period of outrageous All Blacks success.
But, in both Schmidt and Cron, Rugby Australia have in effect recruited for both the present and the future. They are both educators – in Schmidt’s case literally and figuratively – and in the same way a 16-year-old under a great teacher can accomplish something as a 25-year-old, their ultimate impact will only be judged years after their exit.
The hire that proves Rugby Australia is planning for the future
11
1
05.04.2024
Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt won’t go anywhere after 2025 if his team is firing, particularly if they pull off an enormous upset and beat the British and Irish Lions.
Although he has only signed with the Wallabies until the middle of next year, Schmidt has had more farewell tours than John Farnham, and that is not meant in a mean-spirited way.
To continue the pop culture references, when he popped up again at the........
© The Sydney Morning Herald
visit website
login
who are we?
contact us
qosheapp
Toi Staff
Gideon Levy
Belen Fernandez
Andrew Mitrovica
Mort Laitner
Nikkei Editorial
Ali Fathollah-Nejad
Rami G Khouri
