Schmidt’s Frankenstein: How the Wallabies coach is still helping Ireland beat Australia

With a comfortable 27-point win over the Wallabies in Dublin late last year, Ireland also quietly pocketed a record, and neither achievement elicited a squadron of flying champagne corks. It was Ireland’s fifth consecutive victory against Australia, their longest winning streak against the Wallabies since the two nations began playing Test matches in 1927.

In the 100 years and 39 Tests since, both sides have enjoyed periods of ascendancy: Ireland had the upper hand in the 1960s and ’70s, and Australia were dominant from the 80s through to the noughties.

Results swung in the 2010s until Ireland finally established dominance during a three-match tour of Australia in 2018. It would prove to be a tour of broader significance for Irish rugby, and it was all under a man now familiar to Wallabies fans: Joe Schmidt.

Up against the Michael Cheika-coached Wallabies, Schmidt’s Ireland lost the first Test in Brisbane but then squared up in Melbourne. In a thrilling decider at a sold-out (and then-record crowd) at Allianz Stadium, the Irish hung on against a fast-finishing Wallabies and won 20-16.

“That was an unbelievable tour,” recalls Ireland lock James Ryan, who was a rookie in the Irish team in 2018.

“That was a serious Aussie team: obviously Cheika was coaching, but they had Pocock and Hooper in the back row, and Folau was still playing, so it was a proper team.

“My memories from that [third] game were of the area behind the goalposts — it was just a full stand of green. It was mental. I loved that tour.”

After Schmidt began as coach in 2013, Ireland had already begun their climb; beating the All Blacks for the first time ever in 2016, and winning the Six Nations Grand Slam earlier in 2018.

But the series win in Australia was the first since 1979 and, according to Ryan, it provided a giant psychological leap forward.

“It’s a different challenge coming down here, whether you’re going to South Africa, Australia, or New Zealand, just trying to prove a point,” Ryan said. “It was brilliant. It gave us confidence at the time that we could beat the best in the world in their backyard when we were at our best.”

Ireland claimed the world No.1 ranking for the first time ever the following year, but after a disastrous 2019 Rugby World Cup that saw them lose to hosts Japan in the pool rounds, and New Zealand in the quarter-finals, Schmidt departed.

Ireland didn’t regress, though. With the confidence from 2018 in the bank, the Irish beat the All Blacks in New Zealand in a three-match series in 2022, and have held the world No.1 ranking for long stretches since then.

Along the way, Ireland have downed the Wallabies in three November clashes, albeit mostly in close results.

A decade or more of success has created a generation of players who have really only known Tests as one of world rugby’s big dogs, which is a bit different for assistant coach Paul O’Connell, the passionate former skipper who emerged in much leaner years.

“Ireland have always been competitive for some of our players since they’ve been growing up watching Ireland. I’m probably a product of the 90s where I still have scars from those days,” O’Connell said.

“I probably still have that bit of an underdog feeling in me all the time, but we’ve certainly been more competitive against Australia in recent years than we would have been when I was growing up.

“We have a core group that have been together a long time. We know what we stand for as a team, whereas Australia have had to start again a few times in the last number of years.“

They’d never say it, but surely Ireland have waltzed into Sydney confident and expecting to win, right? Not so, says O’Connell.

When it comes to knocking over the Irish, a big part of the problem for the Wallabies is the absence of hubris Schmidt built into this emerald green Frankenstein.

“I think our boys have a lot of respect for them [the Wallabies],” O’Connell says. “Our lads are very good, and it’s the legacy of Joe’s time. They’re very good at just going from game to game, and not getting too bogged down about who is favourite, or who won the last one or the last few. So they’ll have great respect for Australia.”

Ryan and O’Connell are just two of a number in the Ireland set-up, coaches and players alike, who still cite Schmidt as one of the biggest influences in their career. Younger players may not even be aware how much Schmidt system they still use every day, for club and country.

Just a year after the Lions tour, being back in Australia is feeling a bit like déjà vu for Ryan and the 14 other Lions players in the Ireland tour squad. But those memories are also guarding the visitors against recency bias-based complacency about the Wallabies.

“On their day, they’re an unbelievably good side,” Ryan said. “I thought they were very good in the Lions series – look how close that second game was.

“Obviously, they won the third Test. In the Rugby Championship, they beat South Africa away, which was huge. When they put their best performance together, they’re very, very dangerous.

“They’re building a nice squad and a nice group with the World Cup next year. Obviously, under Joe, he will want them to finish on a high. They’ll target this game as a big one.”

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