'I played with his voice in my head' - Schmidt's influence on Ireland

It has been more than five years since the curtain came down on Joe Schmidt's tenure as Ireland head coach when a 2019 World Cup quarter-final defeat to the All Blacks provided the full stop to one of the great chapters in the nation's rugby history.

On Saturday, as his Australia side come to Dublin to mark the Irish Rugby Football Union's 150th anniversary, the 59-year-old will make his first coaching return to the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.

Famously averse to fuss and anything that could distract from the 80 minutes at hand, aspects of the week will likely be uncomfortable for the man widely considered Irish rugby's greatest ever coach.

The player most readily associated with his successes at both Leinster and Ireland is expecting quite the ovation come Saturday afternoon.

"Being with Joe, walking around Dublin, being in a coffee shop with him, every single person comes up and greets him warmly, says great things about him, and anyone who has ever met the guy says the same," said Johnny Sexton.

"With him, I think he'll get an amazing reception when he walks into the Aviva and I think the Irish crowd will acknowledge him for all the things he achieved."

That list of achievements is certainly lengthy.

Ireland's first back-to-back Six Nations titles since 1948/49, a first ever Grand Slam in a season featuring trips to Paris and London, a first win on South African soil, a first southern hemisphere series victory in 39 years and, most memorably of all, ending the 111-year wait for victory over the All Blacks - Schmidt's sides regularly broke through Irish Rugby's most enduring glass ceilings.

One thing they could not manage, however, was making it to a World Cup semi-final.

In his first tilt in 2015, an Ireland side ravaged by injury were thumped by Argentina in Cardiff at the quarter-final stage.

Four years later, Schmidt had already confirmed his intention to "finish coaching" by the time of the tournament and his great side were on the wane in a campaign that featured a pool defeat to hosts Japan before a humbling loss at the hands of New Zealand in the last eight.

Given how it ended, and the success enjoyed by current head coach Andy Farrell since taking up the baton, some have since downplayed Schmidt's contribution to Irish Rugby.

"I think sometimes people, and when I say people, a lot of it is the media, they would change it in a certain way that focuses on the six months that didn't go well rather than the eight years he gave to Leinster and Irish Rugby when he had remarkable success," said Sexton.

"I'd add [success] no other coach has really had. I'd hope that Andy goes on to achieve it but Joe won a Grand Slam, two championships, Heineken Cups, Amlin Cup, league titles, he won [before] with Clermont.

"You've got to look at the facts when you're talking about a person's career.

"That's the greatest thing about winning. You always have opinion, and you've got to respect people's opinion, but when you win, you can't argue about that. No one can say you didn't win what you did."

Even after Schmidt departed in 2019, and still after he took up a post with the All Blacks for the 2023 World Cup, Sexton says his former coach's influence extended on, adding he still had "his voice going through" his head in what proved to be the final game of the fly-half's career.

"He was a massive influence on me through that middle part of my career. It stayed with me.

"I played games and I had his voice in my head. Even when we're playing New Zealand and he's coaching them, I have his voice going through my head and that shows the legacy that he really leaves and the influence he had on me.

"I can also say that he laid the foundations and Andy would say the same. Andy worked with Joe for four years. He would have learned a lot, he'd acknowledge that himself. They remain great friends as well."

Speaking after his side's win over Fiji in the Aviva Stadium, Farrell said there had been no contact yet between him and his former boss as they prepare to pit their wits against each other.

Farrell, who will lead the British and Irish Lions against Schmidt's Australia next summer, has been impressed, however, by how the Wallabies have progressed this year.

After just one win from six in the Rugby Championship, they beat England in Twickenham and Wales in Cardiff this month before defeat to Scotland on Sunday.

“I think it’s progressing exactly how we thought it would do," said Farrell.

"He’s [built] his team by playing a good few players first and foremost and took a little bit of pain, but he’s done the right thing for the squad so he’s got a good opinion and they’re reaping their reward for that at this moment in time.

“They’ve always got the athletes. He’s trying to find out about them more personally, I would have thought, over the last six months. He’s got that now and he’s got them playing really good rugby.”

In what is the final game of the autumn series, plenty of attention will be focused on the game and its intriguing subplots. Farrell, though, says he will embrace the hype.

"I won't be shying away from it. We'll use everything that we've got, obviously. So will they.

"There's no doubt it's an exciting last game for everyone."

Not least because of the men in the opposing coaching boxes.