Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt has said that a gust of wind was responsible for Ireland reverting to short line-outs in their Grand Slam win over England at Twickenham earlier this year.
Ireland secured their first Grand Slam title since 2009 with a 24-15 victory over Eddie Jones’s side back in March in a game that the visitors led 21-5 at the half thanks to first-half tries from Garry Rignrose, CJ Stander and Jacob Stockdale.
Stander’s try on 24 minutes was a direct result of some excellent interplay between prop Tadhg Furlong and centre Bundee Aki after Ireland had opted to go with a four-man line-out at the set piece.
Schmidt said at an NUI award ceremony on Thursday that the plan to go with a short line-out on the day stemmed from the loss of forwards’ coach Simon Easterby’s line-out sheets.
“Some people wouldn’t probably see rugby as an art, there’s a bit of science to it and some brutality, but when you see the try CJ Stander scored in Twickenham at minus five degrees there’s a little bit of artistry and a little bit of choreography that offsets that brutality and allows people to enjoy not just the physical gladiatorial battle but the real challenge of strategy,” Schmidt said at the Royal College of Physicians after he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Arts award by the National University of Ireland.
“It came from a four-man line-out because when we sat up in the stands a bolt or gust blew Simon Easterby’s line-outs into the crowd. We said to Jeff [Blackburn], who was the analyst with us, ‘Jeff you’ve got to go over the top and get those back. We can’t have those in the wrong hands’.
“He could only bring back the short line-outs. He lost the full line-outs and the English coaching box was just across the passage way from us so we decided in an incredibly intelligent, strategic decision to go with short line-outs and we scored two tries.
“That’s preparation,” Schmidt joked. “I just hope that preparation can continue to fall fortuitously in our favour.”
Schmidt also said that he is a bit terrified of next year’s World Cup but that he is optimistic that Ireland have more depth heading into the tournament than they did at the 2015 showcase in England.
“I don’t really like to talk about the World Cup, I’m a bit terrified,” added Schmidt.
“I’m terrified the same thing might happen but we’ve worked really hard to try and grow as much depth as we can possibly can get and with the injuries that we suffered last time we could hopefully even manage that and be competitive.
“That’s what we’re going to try and do.”
Professor Pat Guiry of University College Dublin introduced Schmidt and commented that he is “lauded by a number of Ireland internationals as the brightest rugby mind they have ever come across in their careers”.
Professor Guiry said that Schmidt is known “for analysing his opposition closely, for short, sharp training sessions, and for simple game strategies based on pressure, territory, intelligent defence with aggressive line speed, and rehearsed attacking plays” while he also paid tribute to the New Zealander and his family’s dedication to raising public awareness of epilepsy, through work with Epilepsy Ireland.
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