{"id":553911,"date":"2026-03-21T01:01:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T01:01:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/553911\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T01:01:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T01:01:17","slug":"they-call-me-grandpa-joe-coach-schmidt-in-a-hurry-as-clock-ticks-down-on-wallabies-reign-australia-rugby-union-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/553911\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018They call me Grandpa Joe\u2019: coach Schmidt in a hurry as clock ticks down on Wallabies reign | Australia rugby union team"},"content":{"rendered":"

Joe Schmidt was in Melbourne\u2019s west coaching Footscray RFC\u2019s under-18s on Monday night, then conducting a 20-minute Q&A that ran to two hours. The next day he called together the Wallabies leaders and challenged them to set the standards at their Super Rugby clubs<\/a>. By Wednesday he was deep in meetings with Queensland Reds boss Les Kiss, the coach who will take over the national side<\/a> in July.<\/p>\n

Schmidt is just off another call with Kiss when he arrives to speak with Guardian Australia, biceps bulging after a workout and eyes gleaming ahead of another day spent dragging the Wallabies back to respectability<\/a> and priming them for the 2027 World Cup on home soil<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This relentless work ethic runs contrary to the title his grandchildren have given him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey call me Grandpa Joe and I don\u2019t like it,\u201d says Schmidt, 60. \u201cGrandpa Joe is the old bloke in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory who never gets out of bed, whereas I never find enough hours in the day to get everything done that I want to.\u201d<\/p>\n

This gentle gripe should be music to the ears of Wallabies fans. A golden ticket got old Joe Bucket dancing like David Campese. A gold jersey still does the same for Schmidt.<\/p>\n

\u201cAustralian rugby has given me a great group of men who are totally invested and utterly determined to represent that jersey the best they can,\u201d Schmidt says. \u201cWe haven\u2019t got it right all the time but this side is hungry to earn the support of the country, so for me it\u2019s about keeping those connections and growing the positives because we didn\u2019t get the results in 2025 and we have to get some this season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Australia head coach Joe Schmidt speaks to Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii before a rugby union Test against South Africa. Photograph: Siphiwe Sibeko\/Reuters<\/p>\n

It says plenty for the high esteem Schmidt is held in at Rugby Australia that he avoided blame for the Wallabies\u2019 fade to black last year: a 5-10 win-loss season that finished in November with four straight defeats on the first winless tour of Europe in 67 years<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut even at the back end of a long season we scored three tries against Ireland and five against France,\u201d he says. \u201cEight tries against two of the world\u2019s best sides.\u201d<\/p>\n

Australia are still ranked eighth in the world but Schmidt\u2019s glass is defiantly half full. \u201cPlayers are improving, performances are building and we\u2019re developing real depth. If everyone\u2019s fit, we\u2019ve got a great side. Every game of that Northern Tour was still winnable at the 60-minute mark, but when we lost players and combinations we were vulnerable. We let teams off the hook and couldn\u2019t find a \u2018change-up\u2019 in the final 20.\u201d<\/p>\n

James Slipper reacts as the Wallabies are defeated by the All Blacks at Eden Park in 2025. Photograph: Phil Walter\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Last year started brightly with a last-gasp victory over Fiji before a bumper British & Irish Lions series was lost 2-1 amid a controversial refereeing decision late in the second Test. \u201cNo one gave us a hope against the Lions, and in the end it was one point difference across three Tests,\u201d says Schmidt. \u201cThen we beat Argentina on the bell in Townsville and defied 62 years of history to beat South Africa at Ellis Park.\u201d<\/p>\n

The latter result against the Springboks last August proves Schmidt\u2019s belief that \u201cyou don\u2019t have to be the best in the world, just the best on the day\u201d. Recovering from 0-22 to score six straight tries and beat the world champions 38-22 is Schmidt\u2019s crowning glory during his time with the Wallabies.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut those victories are high points, not end points,\u201d he says. \u201cAt the leaders meeting on Tuesday all the guys are very keen to make sure we hit the ground running in 2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schmidt has three Tests left as Wallabies coach, against Ireland, France and Italy. His farewell lap starts in style with a clash against his old side in Sydney on 4 July. Ireland were No 9 in the world when Schmidt was appointed coach in 2013 and in six years he took them to No 1, winning three Six Nations championships. \u201cThat\u2019s not to say there\u2019s an ambush coming, just a lot of hard work going on behind the scenes,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Tate McDermott and the Wallabies celebrate a try against the British & Irish Lions at Accor Stadium. Photograph: Dean Lewins\/AAP<\/p>\n

A win-loss record as Wallabies coach (11-17, 43%) pales against his results with Ireland (55-22, 71%) but he and Kiss are plotting a boilover before a handover. \u201cI won two Six Nations with Les \u2013 he ran our defence and did an outstanding job,\u201d says Schmidt. \u201cHe was with us for meetings in Canberra last week and things are transitioning pretty seamlessly. He\u2019ll spend the week with us before the Brisbane and Perth Tests too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schmidt was hands-off in RA appointing his successor but safe to say he approves. \u201cI wasn\u2019t involved in that process,\u201d he says. \u201cBut they\u2019ve fallen upon a really good candidate so Wallabies fans should be excited. Les is 100% invested with very broad experience. We\u2019re great mates and I\u2019ll always be around to help him but when he takes over I\u2019ll give him a degree of separation so Les can set his own agenda and forge ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having refused to tender for the newly filled All Blacks job out of loyalty to Australia, RA remain confident they can yet keep Schmidt in the fold in some hands-on form.<\/p>\n

For now, after fulfilling duties to his Wallabies family he will return to his real kin: wife, Kellie, and their kids, Abby, Tim, Ella and youngest, Luke, whose serious epilepsy condition has made Schmidt\u2019s service and sacrifice to the gold jersey all the greater.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got regrets about leaving,\u201d he says. \u201cI feel like a lot of unseen positives are about to become visible.\u201d A few have been waving at Schmidt as they walk by: Mark Nawaquinatawase and Angus Crichton (returning to rugby in 2027) and golden boy Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii (one of 16 to whom he gave Wallabies debuts in 2024). Then there\u2019s NRL convert Zac Lomax (\u201cgreat in the aerial battle, massively committed\u201d).<\/p>\n

Schmidt\u2019s eyes are starting to gleam as his devotion to the team he built is roused. But he snaps out of it. \u201cThe first thing my wife and I will do is fly to Ireland to see our new grandson so I\u2019m saying no to everything at the moment \u2026 but if a window opens and my wife is sick of me being home and Luke is in a good place and still making progress, then who knows? One thing I\u2019ve learned in this life is to never say never.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a lesson the Wallabies must heed as they start life without their Grandpa Joe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Joe Schmidt was in Melbourne\u2019s west coaching Footscray RFC\u2019s under-18s on Monday night, then conducting a 20-minute Q&A…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":553912,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-553911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=553911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553911\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/553912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=553911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=553911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=553911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}