FORMER IRELAND HEAD coach Joe Schmidt will spend a day coaching the Spanish national team as they prepare for their crucial Rugby Europe Championship clash against Georgia this weekend.
Schmidt, who left the Ireland job after last year’s World Cup, has not yet committed to a new permanent job.
He will visit Spain’s training camp near Barcelona tomorrow to work with head coach Santiago Santos’ squad.
Spain opened the Rugby Europe Championship with a win away to Russia last weekend and are now preparing for Sunday’s clash with Georgia, the reigning back-to-back champions who hammered Romania 41-13 in the first round of fixtures.
While confirming that Schmidt will visit Spain camp tomorrow in order to provide a “master class” and coach alongside Santos, the Federación Española de Rugby also revealed that Schmidt will coach the Classic All Blacks against Spain next May.
That fixture is set to take place at the Wanda Metropolitano stadium in Madrid on May 29, with Schmidt set to lend his expertise to the Classic All Blacks, an invitational team made up of former New Zealand internationals.
The Spanish federation say almost 40,000 tickets have already been sold for that fixture in Madrid.
Spain will hope Schmidt’s visit to their national team tomorrow can provide them with a boost ahead of Sunday’s clash with Georgia at the Estadio Nacional Complutense in Madrid.
According to a report in La Montagne in France, ex-Leinster and Ireland boss Schmidt is also set to link up with former club Clermont on a two-week consultancy basis this month.
Elsewhere, on Saturday in the Rugby Europe Championship, Portugal host Romania, while Russia visit Belgium.
