JOE SCHMIDT HAS dismissed recent speculation linking him with the England job, insisting he is committed to coaching the Irish team long term.
Speaking on The Late Late Show tonight, Schmidt said he was already looking forward to helping Ireland win the next Six Nations.
“(The Speculation) will die pretty quickly. I’m absolutely committed to the group of young men I work with. They are such a good group. I can’t wait to get started post-Christmas looking towards the Six Nations and looking forward as best we can. I’m certainly not going anywhere.”
Schmidt added that his biggest regret about the World Cup was “the injury toll”.
He continued: “One of the regrets I probably have now is that Johnny (Sexton’s) fitness was declared on the Wednesday, he trained on the Friday, and for Ian Madigan to come in, he had a small window of about 25 minutes on the Saturday to really prepare himself for a monumental test. It’s not a great window to then be running the show.
“We felt Johnny was going to be okay. It was just that he tightened up after the training and we had to make a decision — we knew it was too much of a risk to put him out there. One kick and he could be off the pitch again.”
The coach also insisted Ireland were already at “the next level,” and suggested talk of a gap in quality between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres had been exaggerated, pointing to the narrow losses suffered by Scotland and Wales in the recent quarter-final games.
