Joe Schmidt, the strong favourite to succeed Declan Kidney, has given the strongest hint yet that he may be of a mind to become the next full-time head coach of Ireland. However, he also gave the impression that it is far from a done deal and that the attitude of the Leinster hierarchy may have a major bearing on matters.
Schmidt and Les Kiss, the interim coach for the two-match summer tour to North America, are amongst the shortlist due to be interviewed by a panel consisting of the IRFU's five-man National Team Review Group (NTRG) and a professional consultant in the next week or so.
"At the moment I'm going to try and give it some thought over the next couple of days," admitted the Leinster coach in the aftermath of Saturday night's win over Munster at Thomond Park. "I'm going to talk to some people in our committee, and see what they think.
“It’s not for me to say who’s worthy of the post. So if it is something that interests people then it’s maybe something that might happen. But for me at the moment, this week you don’t think about much else other than Munster.
“You don’t come to Thomond Park and be thinking about more than one thing, and that is trying to construct as good a quality play as you can, and be prepared to defend with your sleeves up and with every ounce of energy.”
These comments added to, what seems, an increased interest in the Irish position were it to be offered to him. Schmidt was believed to be reluctant to leave Leinster in the lurch with a year remaining on his contract and work with an outmoded IRFU structure that demanded his predecessors meet with the NTRG on the Friday night before Test matches and a few nights afterwards to outline their selections and tactics.
Furthermore, as he also noted dryly, he hasn’t always enjoyed interference from the IRFU in his time as Leinster coach, such as their increasing restrictions on overseas players and signings.
Reluctant
However the IRFU are committed toward scrapping the NTRG's demands in lieu of bringing in a professional game board and performance director, and although the Leinster hierarchy are reluctant to lose their coach, ultimately they may feel obliged not to stand in his way.
In any event, his choice of words appeared to suggest he was in the frame. “It means that I’m not discounting myself,” he added. “I’m going to speak to some people this weekend, but I’d like people to understand it’s a really tough decision. I’ve massively enjoyed the last three years . . . And I made a commitment to be there next season.
“So it’s a difficult thing for me. I said last week I’ve never not fulfilled my full commitment that I’ve made and that’s why it’s a difficult conundrum for me and it’s probably a difficult conundrum for Ireland because I’ve probably caused them more headaches than positive things in the last three years,” he said, laughing. “It would be probably difficult for them as it is for me.”
