WHILE SOUTH AFRICA’S Jacques Nienaber is set to become his work colleague in the next few weeks, Andrew Goodman credits a man in the opposite coaching box for Saturday’s World Cup final for helping him to forge a career in professional rugby.
Back in 2012, Goodman was working as a teacher in New Zealand’s Nelson College and spending three months of the year playing for Tasman in the National Provincial Championship when he got a call out of the blue offering him a one-year contract at Leinster with the option of a further year.
In what proved to be his final season at the helm of the eastern province before taking over as Ireland head coach for a six-year stint, Joe Schmidt was looking for a utility back to cover a number of positions and Goodman went on to make 17 appearances as Leinster claimed silverware in the form of a European Challenge Cup and a Pro12 title.
After going on to establish himself as an assistant coach with Super Rugby giants the Crusaders, Goodman returned to Leinster in the summer of 2022 as a replacement for Felipe Contepomi amongst their backroom staff.
It was around the same time last year that Schmidt began life as an attack specialist in Ian Foster’s All Blacks coaching set-up and he will be hoping to add ‘World Cup winner’ to his impressive CV this weekend when they take on the Springboks at Stade de France.
“It was such a random call for me to receive. I kind of got that call and was like ‘what’s going on here!?’ That call literally did change my life and I’m forever grateful to Joe for the opportunity for me to come over here. To be a full-time professional and to have him as a coach. For me, I loved my time under Joe,” Goodman acknowledged at a Leinster media event.
“The feedback coming around him is that he’s been great for the All Black environment, in terms of the detail. The boys are loving what he’s doing there.
“I learnt a lot off him and still use a lot of the phrases or mindsets that I learnt when I was under him as a player. He has definitely got his DNA across this building still. Some of the language and things we do as a team. I wish him all the best for this weekend.”
Having finished out his time with Ireland by losing heavily to New Zealand in a World Cup quarter-final at Tokyo Stadium in 2019, Schmidt played a significant role in ensuring the All Blacks squeezed past the Irish at the same stage of this year’s tournament. Despite being a native of the southern hemisphere nation, Goodman admitted his status as Leinster’s attack coach made him a conflicted viewer of this last-eight tussle in Saint-Denis on 14 October.
“Such a strange feeling for me. Because obviously growing up in New Zealand you are All Black mad, but to have so many close relationships with those [Irish] boys… I just wanted people to play well and I was really gutted for the boys in our squad and the Irish boys in general because I love watching Ireland play.
“They play an amazing brand of rugby and I really wanted them to go further in the tournament. It was a tough watch. My four-year-old son, the first rugby name he has learned is Johnny Sexton so he was on about him every time Johnny did something and that was strange coming from New Zealand.
“Just gutted for the boys. I wanted them to have a successful tournament, but I think everyone around the world appreciated the style of rugby they played. Even the crowd that got around them was brilliant, so they can hold their heads high in my eyes.
Like a sizable bulk of the Leinster squad, Goodman was also over at the World Cup in an official capacity – as the assistant coach of Samoa in his case. While their Pool D campaign began with a comfortable win over Chile, defeats to Argentina, Japan and England saw them finishing fourth in the overall standings.
This means the Pacific Islanders will now have to go through a qualification phase for the 2027 World Cup in Australia, but being at a major tournament with Samoa is an experience that Goodman cherished nevertheless.
“I got to experience something pretty cool in going to Samoa for our World Cup warm-up, so pretty special memories to be on the island there and see the support they have. It’s the Peoples’ Team they say. I got to take the family over there for a week as well, so it was an amazing experience I will never forget,” Goodman added.
“Going to the World Cup, we had high ambitions of being the best Samoan team ever and that meant we had to get out of our pool. It was just a couple of games in the middle there where we didn’t perform as we could have and should have.
“It was a proud way to finish against England, but it was a game we should have won and it was frustrating that we didn’t have that performance in the games before that. Great learnings for myself as a coach as well in the stuff around the rugby and the pressure of playing week-to-week.”