Schmidt bleeds Irish green

 

"It builds coronaries for coaches but it also builds character," is Schmidt's summation of the crazy final day climax to the Six Nations as he added yet another trophy to his burgeoning cabinet and bolstered the camp who believe he is the best coach in the world.

 

The 49-year-old New Zealander – who guided Ireland to only their second successful defence of the Five/Six Nations trophy with the previous one dating back to 1948/49 – may not have suffered a coronary but he has shown he is as tough as teak.

 

For last November he gritted his teeth and sat up in the coaching staff box at Lansdowne Road to oversee Ireland beat Australia before being rushed to hospital with appendicitis.

 

He has moulded the present Ireland side into a similarly tough outfit, no longer saddled with the epithet of 'brave in defeat', that has seen off 11 of their last 12 opponents, Wales being the exception last weekend.

 

No mean feat after being at the helm for just two years when one compares his achievements to the underwhelming record of France coach Philippe Saint-Andre who has a far greater playing pool and in four years has failed to finish higher than fourth in the Six Nations.

 

He also took over a side that was demoralised after a woeful 2013 Six Nations campaign – and in good headmasterly style, a post he occupied in New Zealand, just as he had done at Leinster he whipped them into shape.

 

He would sit down personally with each individual of his enlarged squad of around 50 players and address their strengths and weaknesses and add if this and that was done then come the series they would be up for selection.

 

"Any coach first of all looks at their own players and thinks 'What are our players better at than others? What do our players get confidence from?' he said prior to the win over England in February.

 

"You start from there as your base and then you look at your opponents, and then you try and put together a functional way of putting an attack together, but are flexible."

 

On the outside he is a great communicator and willing to respond at length to questions, but insiders say he is also one who likes to keep a tight rein on things going on in the camp.

 

The eloquent Kiwi is also quick to defend his tactics especially after they came under fire for being effective but one dimensional – a stark contrast to the free flowing play of his Leinster side that won two European Cups' and a Challenge Cup during his tenure.

 

"That's a bit disconcerting," Schmidt said.

 

"I probably contest that we are one-dimensional at the moment as we have been described.

 

"If we are one-dimensional, I don't believe we would have managed to get our noses in front in a number of games that we have played.

 

"If you are one-dimensional then too many teams are that good that they will shut you down."

 

Schmidt said that the modern game did not allow for simply throwing the ball around and making mad dashes up the pitch.

 

"One of the things I would say in modern rugby is that there are a lot of big men on the pitch that isn't quite as big," said Schmidt.

 

"It may look quite big depending on how far up the stand you are, but there's not a heck of a lot of room out there.

 

"Therefore I believe you've got to be three-dimensional in attack. 

 

"If you play a two-dimensional game, you can only pass the ball backwards so if you want to go forwards you have to pass it backwards and then carry it forward.

 

"The only other way to progress the ball is to use the boot so you have got to be proficient in using all three aspects of the game."

 

For now, though, Schmidt will shunt aside the game he has brought so much to and focus on his personal life with the priority his 11-year-old son Luke, who suffers from epilepsy as a result of a brain tumour he had when he was four.

 

"I've got a sick son and we're off overseas to see specialists to try to get some help with him, so the reality for me is a long way from rugby when we fly out on Tuesday.

 

"So I'll park the rugby for a little while, and we'll see if we can get really lucky on both sides of what's important to us, and then we'll look towards the World Cup towards the end of April."