Ian Foster - Dead Man Walking

[Amiga500]

I think Andy Farrell's success here has somewhat dimmed Joe's aura.

Was the rigid gameplan really the way to go*? Why wasn't there a plan B? Not unreasonable questions.


*its this one that should have you pondering if you were in the NZR. Can Joe play a flexible game? Or is it schoolteacher stuff; "thou will copy of the blackboard and do exactly what it says"?

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Without Joe, we don't have the team we do today and Farrell likely isn't as good a coach after having three years experience with him. Schmidt had one bad year, following on from the best year Irish rugby has ever had. His failure in the end was not trusting guys who hadn't enough experience in his set up, playing Henshaw at 15 instead of a real fullback and not dropping Best, Murray and Stander despite middling to poor form really killed us in 2019, these are common among nearly any coach hitting that 6 year mark with a national team and its something he'd have most likely learned from. Still our best coach until Farrell starts filling the trophy cabinet.

Promoting Schmidt would be as good a move as any NZ can make, he's done with Leinster what Robertson is doing with the Crusaders also.

 

[Bada-Bing!]

Schmidt did a great deal more for Ireland than Hansen did with Wales.

 

[miccloarch]

Razor's the only choice if you ignore politics. I'd take Schmidt over Foster any day though. As in today, right now, terminate his contract lol.