JOE SCHMIDT ADMITTED he was a relieved man after Ireland beat Samoa 40-9 at Lansdowne Road after tacking on 19 points in the closing stages.
Coaching Ireland for the first time, the former Leinster chief was enthused by the performances from young players such as Jack McGrath, Paddy Jackson and Peter O’Mahony but knows tougher tests await.
Asked for his emotional bearings after the game, Schmidt confessed, “There’s just a sense of relief, to be honest. I didn’t want to have to come in here afterwards and face up to a first-up loss. That can never happen to me now but I don’t want to do it for a second-up loss or any loss.”
Schmidt could not fault his players’ work-rate but questioned them for squandering possession, and force themselves to defend, in the first place. “From that perspective,” he said, “you’re never going to be delighted if you are giving teams too many opportunities. Going forward to next week and the week after, I don’t think we can afford to be that untidy with the ball.”
The New Zealander specified timings of runs and forced passes as areas to work on next week and admitted there was a ‘try too hard factor’ with players forgoing the basics in an effort to impress. “It frustrated themselves and probably the crowd, at times, in giving the ball back,” he added.
Ireland’s kicking out of hand was off-key, as was the aerial game they road-tested in the opening 20 minutes. Schmidt conceded, “There were a few other kicks that were a little bit wayward; too long to contest or too far into the middle of the pitch.
As a result, I can just imagine, if someone manages to find Israel Folau with some of those next week — or Adam Ashley Cooper or Tevita Kurindrani — I think we’re going to really have our work cut out for us.”
Setting aside his perfectionist’s hat for a moment, Schmidt focused on the positives of a win that will see Ireland leap-frog Samoa to seventh in the world rankings come Monday morning. Paddy Jackson, he said, was assured and marshalled his backline effectively while the scrum, particularly in the opening quarter, was excellent.
He said, “I think young Jack McGrath showed a bit of vindication for the time and effort that he has put in. I was delighted for him to get out there and put in such a good first performance. The first lineout try was top drawer. In the second half, we did actually put some plays together that resulted in some pretty good tries as well.”
Schmidt looks set to be without Chris Henry for the remainder of the series after the Ulster flanker suffered ‘a slight hamstring tear’ in the first-half. Apart from Henry’s injury, the head coach had a clean bill of health. He remarked that Brian O’Driscoll felt he had 80 minutes in him but the tank was ‘going dry after 55 minutes’. Ireland captain Paul O’Connell, he said, had an impact off the bench.
The coach insisted the forwards and backline talismen have every chance of playing two full games against the Wallabies and All Blacks. Two more positives for the Kiwi but do not expect him to dwell on the high notes for too long. There is work to be done.
