The 'scary' sliding doors moment for 'accidental' master coach Joe Schmidt

Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt recently sat down with Stan Sport to discuss his emotional return to Ireland.

Schmidt coached Ireland between 2013-19 and he is still revered there for his role in piloting the team to the top of the world rankings.

Australia take on Ireland - now coached by Schmidt's former assistant Andy Farrell - in Dublin on Sunday (AEDT) in their final game of the 2024 season.

Watch the Wallabies take on Ireland on December 1 (AEDT) on Stan Sport. Stream every match of the Autumn Nations Series ad free, live and exclusive

On how it will feel to return to Ireland as an opposition coach...

Schmidt: It's the first time I've actually been there as an opposition coach. I've coached against them a couple of times. One time in New Zealand when the All Blacks coaches had COVID and I got a late phone call to go in and coach for a week. And then, the gift that keeps on giving, I got COVID, so that was the end of that.

And then obviously in that quarter-final of the World Cup (last year). So it'll be the first time I'll have gone back into the Aviva (Stadium) and been in the opposition changing room. That will be a bit bizarre.

READ MORE: NRL best 17's for 2025: 'Huge dilemma' faces powerhouse

READ MORE: Green couldn't hold his spot. Now Australia's desperate for him

READ MORE: 'Everything to me': Matildas veteran's emotional farewell

On the reception he expects to receive from the Ireland fans...

Schmidt: Well my daughter's there, she'll be happy. I think she's always pretty happy to see her dad. And we've got lots of friends there, going way back. I played a season and a half there as a much younger person and then obviously living there for 10 years - three years with Leinster and about six and a half years with Ireland.

So we always enjoy getting back there. We get back there most years to catch up with people.

NEW PODCAST! Michael Atkinson and Sam Worthington preview Wallabies vs Ireland and offer some bold predictions for 2025

On the honour of being offered the Ireland coaching job...

Schmidt: Pretty scary, to be honest. I didn't plan to ever be a rugby coach so the whole Leinster thing happened a little bit by accident.

They couldn't find anyone else and I'd been trying to get Isa Nacewa to come to Clermont. And he said 'why don't you come to Leinster?' And then the CEO rang me and my wife decided that it'd be a good idea to go to Leinster. We had a fantastic time there.

We really enjoyed France and Clermont and had some really good success there. That was uplifting and Leinster was a special time, those three years there. Ireland, it was a privilege, it was pretty scary to be honest, coaching a national team.

I'd only been head coach for one big team, which was Leinster. I didn't, in my wildest dreams, imagine the time that I had and the players I got to work with. It was just incredibly enjoyable.

On the responsibility of the job and whether his welcome was warm in Ireland...

Schmidt: Warmth fluctuates with results! We had a good win over Samoa in the first game, then got hammered by the Wallabies.

Then lost in the 82nd minute against the All Blacks. That was a bit of a tide turner for the players really. They got a lot of belief out of that, they knew they could have won that game. And that gave us a bit of confidence going into the Six Nations.

Got a good start beating Wales and Scotland at home initially and then losing late in the game to England at Twickenham and then finishing off with a couple of wins to win the Six Nations.

And then the following year was bizarre. It was before they had bonus points in the Six Nations. They called it Super Saturday because Wales beat Italy so they went to the lead and then we had to win against Scotland by something like 20 points. We got a record win there, about 40-10 and then we had to wait for England and France to finish. England got so close to doing it too. I think they won by 20 points.

I still remember, we were in the Scottish after-match function and every time there was a score from France there was a big roar because they let people back into the stadium to watch it on the big screen and there was about 10,000 people that stayed.

So when we were announced as Six Nations winners, we went outside to not an empty stadium but a stadium that had a whole lot of Irish people who'd stayed after the Scottish game and we managed to get back-to-back Six Nations.

On whether he drank Guinness for free in Ireland...

Schmidt: The Irish people, they have a warmth about them anyway. It's very easy to share a pint or coffee or conversation with the Irish. One of the bizarre things - I was there with a guy recently and you walk along the street and people say: 'Hi Joe.' The guy said to me: 'wow, you meet a lot of people' and I didn't meet those people.

It is a real warm familiarity for me that might change going back with the Wallabies. It's a neat, neat place and I really enjoyed the time that we had there and people looked after the family really well. That always makes it easier. If you're in a job that takes a lot of hours, it's great that the family is looked after.

On whether Ireland players had certain traits compared to Australia...

Schmidt: It's funny because the provinces have quite distinct characteristics. Munster, they play in red, they bleed red, they bleed for the jersey. They were iconic and they were the standard setters for so long. Leinster now, they've kind of taken that mantle as the premier side, but even then, Munster, they played them in Croke Park the other day - 80 odd thousand people at a provincial game.

It's a thing that we would dream about here in Australia or New Zealand to get that sort of support. So they have very different trait.

Obviously, the Ulsterman, they come from a different country, Northern Ireland and they've contributed some fantastic players.

Rory Best, he was captain of the Irish team for four of the years that I was involved. He was from the north and then you had a few Connacht guys. Bundee Aki, he might not look like he's Irish but he has been a fantastic servant for Ireland.

Robbie Henshaw, outstanding, and Finlay Bealham and Mack Hansen are there now, both Australian men who have done a great job for Ireland and have accumulated a number of caps and been very successful.

On the task for the Wallabies and whether his inside knowledge will help...

Schmidt: No, not really. Ireland is such a complete outfit. They can go after you in the air, they can go after you with the angles.

The timing, the options they have, they're very, very strong around the driving maul, the lineout. The scrum is really solid, they've got a very good middle row, back row. Josh van der Flier was world player of the year a couple of years ago, Caelan Doris has been an absolute standout for them. Peter O'Mahony, I coached Pete for all those years that I was at Ireland and he's just such a competitor.

But he's a real athlete as well. One of the quickest guys jumping in the lineout that I've come across. A couple of really good Kiwi connections with Jamison Gibson-Park, Bundee Aki and James Lowe in the backline. They really complement some world class players like (Garry) Ringrose, Hugo Keenan and Mack Hansen.

On the Aviva Stadium cauldron the Wallabies will enter...

Schmidt: It'll be special for our team as well as the Irish. The Fields of Athenry rings around the stadium, they are so vocal. They just love the game and they're very, very positive supporters of the game.

You go some places and you get a lot of whistling or jeering or things like that. You don't get a lot of that in Ireland. They just love getting along and enjoying the spectacle that a good game of rugby can be.

On the rich rugby history between Australia and Ireland...

I watched my first internationals there (Dublin) in 1991, when the Wallabies beat the All Blacks in that (Rugby World Cup) semi-final.

I was there for the quarter-final the week before when, incredibly, (Gordon) Hamilton scored with about three or four minutes to go to put the Irish in front (against the Wallabies). It looked like they may make the semi-final at home and Michael Lynagh scored in the corner. They put together the same move and they scored off it twice. They were a heck of a team the Wallabies at that time and obviously went on to win that World Cup.

On what the Wallabies will have to do to beat Ireland, who have won 21 of their last 22 Tests in Dublin...

Schmidt: Ireland are incredibly good at their fundamentals. They make it so hard for you to get the ball off them and then make it so hard for you to hang on to the ball against them.

They kick well, run well, defend well. They're strong in the set piece so it is very much across the board that we're going to have to be at our very best to compete with them. That's a great challenge and it's a way to get some growth.

Because when you're playing the best you hope that you'll lift for that challenge and you'll get the best out of yourself the guys either side of you because it's going to have to be a collective effort.

I remember one time before we played England, Ben Youngs was interviewed and he got asked the question: 'why are Ireland so hard to beat?' And he said: 'they're just really good at all the things that don't take talent.' The Irish were delighted with it.

Now they've got massive talent, without a doubt. But if you're really good at the fundamental things that help the game flow and then you've got a bit of talent on the back of it - or a lot of talent on the back of it - then you become incredibly formidable as an opponent.

So across the board, the Wallabies are going to have to be as good as they can be.