![\"Andy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/GettyImages-2247355159.jpg.webp\")
Andy Farell has enjoyed substantial success since taking the Ireland<\/a> head coach role (Photo By Ramsey Cardy\/Sportsfile via Getty Images)<\/p>\nHidden away in the terms and conditions but never highlighted in red, there is a caveat. The book is written in the knowledge of what could have been, but never was. It will leave you with a feeling of queasiness, a persistent ache in the pit of your stomach, especially if you are a supporter of Irish rugby. No amount of bisodol will be enough to cure that sensation.<\/p>\n
\u2018Touching distance\u2019 means just that. It means arriving at a World Cup quarter-final as the world\u2019s number one team, having beaten the reigning world champions at the pool stage and facing a New Zealand<\/a> side you beat the year before in their own backyard. And it means losing again, at the same stage of the tournament where you always make your exit. Despite all the improvements at Test level and all the streamlining and realignment of the feeder system underneath it \u2013 they win, and you lose.<\/p>\n This is the tale of Irish rugby over the past decade: a plot with heaps of charm and character but a darker lining. The yearning for what might have been, the thirst that can never be slaked is a footnote at the bottom of every page. Fanning\u2019s book reads like an elegant elegy. If the last rites have not been read, the priest still carries them crumpled in pocket, like a constant reminder or a cruel joke.<\/p>\n At the start, the book begins to gather pace when it discusses the man who propelled Ireland into the first rank of rugby powers in the 2010s. In all, six chapters are devoted to the Joe Schmidt years, the meat of the book. He had first arrived, unknown and unheralded, in Mullingar in the county of Westmeath in 1991, as a player from Manawatu \u2018seeking experience and wanting to see the world\u2019 outside his native New Zealand.<\/p>\n His return to this country, 17 years later, would likely be scripted by Hollywood as a modern remake of the mission to drive the snakes out of Ireland and to convert the pagan peasantry.<\/p>\n By the time he finished his first stint in the country he was coaching Wilson\u2019s Hospital School and doubling up as a player-coach for Mullingar RFC and it was a glimpse of his future with Leinster.<\/p>\n As Fanning observes: \u201cHis return to this country, 17 years later, would likely be scripted by Hollywood as a modern remake of the mission to drive the snakes out of Ireland and to convert the pagan peasantry. It would involve a name change, of course, to Patrick. The second coming was an altogether higher-profile affair. It kicked off a spin cycle of success that started in season one, 2010\/11 [with Leinster], and continued almost uninterrupted through to 2017\/18 [with Ireland]. Nothing would be the same in Irish rugby again.\u201d<\/p>\n Where Schmidt\u2019s predecessor Michael Cheika was a culture-builder, Joe was the man with a relentless eye for detail and driving playing standards on from that point. It was like the Baptist, preparing the way for the Saviour.<\/p>\n As Leinster<\/a> flanker Kevin McLaughlin recalls ruefully, \u201cwe thought we were good at rugby and it turned out we actually weren\u2019t. I remember being quite shocked by the detail [of it]<\/p>\n \u201c[Schmidt] used to give us a little two-page document before every game highlighting what the opposition team was going to do and what our core plays were, and the principles were on every page. You couldn\u2019t ignore them. They were everywhere. I can remember what most of them are: dominate the air; ball-carrier use feet, fight and finish; it\u2019s two barrels plus one at every ruck; it\u2019s run square \u2013 we never run laterally; he had a no offloads policy for everyone except \u2018Drico\u2019 [Brian O\u2019Driscoll] and a few others because at that point we knew if we kept the ball we scored; there was \u201ckiller\u201d in the 22, which meant that as soon as we got into the opposition 22 we upped our intensity 10 per cent, and we always came away with points. That\u2019s 15 years ago and those principles are still baked into my brain. It\u2019s unbelievable.\u201d<\/p>\n It was Schmidt who drove Leinster on to two Champions Cup victories in three seasons and Ireland to an historic first win over the All Blacks<\/a> at Soldier Field in Chicago in 2016. He won three Six Nations<\/a> titles during his six years in charge of the national team, and by 2019 Ireland had reached the number one spot in the World Rugby rankings for the first time in their history after defeating Wales<\/a> on 7th September. They were still number one on the eve of the\u00a0World Cup a couple of months later, only to be shattered by the All Blacks at the quarter-final stage, losing 46-14.<\/p>\n The flipside to Schmidt\u2019s exceptional eye for detail was the need to exert absolute control of everything, little or large, within his purview. It was management which knew no boundaries. As Leinster CEO Mick Dawson notes, \u201cyou\u2019d have to say [Joe] was a great appointment, but as time went on you got to realise that Mother Theresa wasn\u2019t really Mother Theresa. He was ruthless.\u201d<\/p>\n One of the most fascinating passages in the true centre of the book begins when Fanning takes an audible deep breath, and approaches the heart of darkness in the Schmidt era, pen and torch in hand. Reporters who leaked injuries or selections in advance tended to find themselves in a frozen media wasteland: \u201cIt bothered him the media were not all card-carrying supporters\u2026 Joe never came around to the idea that he couldn\u2019t control everything written about his team. At the time, most of it was gushing. But later he would become fixated on the reporting of injuries and team selections.\u201d<\/p>\n That tune will sound all too familiar to Wallaby supporters over the past couple of years. When Schmidt sounded out Fanning about the possibility of writing a book together, the same music was playing in the background.<\/p>\n The prospect of cajoling him at every turn to invest something of himself in a story he didn\u2019t want to write was painful. More likely, this was Joe\u2019s idea of a soft landing for me.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had discussed the possibility of me ghost-writing it over coffee one Saturday morning in Wilde & Green, a busy restaurant in Milltown near where he lived. It was like pushing a heavy door that hadn\u2019t been opened in years\u2026 When we met again, a few months later at the same venue, he said he was thinking about writing the book himself and maybe I could have an input in some way. Jaysus. I kicked to touch rather than run a mile; the prospect of cajoling him at every turn to invest something of himself in a story he didn\u2019t want to write was painful. More likely, this was Joe\u2019s idea of a soft landing for me.\u201d<\/p>\n Coaching is about relationships \u2013 with the players and the backroom staff for sure, but also with the media which translates coach-think for public consumption. As the media drifted away on the tide, so the players began to have their doubts. Johnny Sexton<\/a> wanted more sessions on unstructured attack as the 2023 World Cup loomed, but Schmidt already had his micro-calendar planned out: the younger players pleaded with senior \u2018Sexto\u2019: \u201cAre we going to play any rugby?\u201d<\/p>\n There is a limit to the number of times the message about doing the same thing but doing it better can be repeated. When the teacher stops learning, so do the kids. The final straw came when Schmidt\u2019s departure from the head coaching role was announced at the end of the 2018 autumn series, so the IRFU could secure the services of his outstanding defensive assistant Andy Farrell, who was coveted by England. Suddenly Joe had one foot out of the door marked \u2018exit\u2019 and he had lost control of the runway.<\/p>\n Fanning reports a significant moment in the changing power dynamic behind the scenes.<\/p>\n \u201cAccording to my colleague R\u00faaidhr\u00ed O\u2019Connor on the Irish Independent: \u2018After a couple of beers [with the pressmen], Joe got up to go, like he was expecting the other coaches to follow. But they stayed put. It was an awkward moment and felt like there was a bit of a power shift \u2013 or at least that they weren\u2019t all hanging on his every word, which I think would have been the case previously.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n The quarter-final shellacking by the All Blacks had already been anticipated by a loss at the pool stage to Japan. When Schmidt openly criticised referee Angus Gardner for some of his decisions in that game, the back-channels of communication to officials were blocked thereafter. The portion of his environment Schmidt could control was ever-diminishing throughout the course of 2019, and the outcome at the World Cup was the public showing of a countrywide loss of faith in \u2018the shrinking man\u2019.<\/p>\n As legendary Chicago Bears coach George Halas once said, \u2018What they praise you for at the start, they will criticize you for at the end.\u2019 As Eddie Jones added in conversation with the author of the book, \u2018Joe brought detail, he brought precision, he brought a hard work ethic with players working above and beyond what they would normally do. And like everything, it runs its race\u2019.<\/p>\n Amen to that. Schmidt brought unprecedented success to rugby in the emerald isle, but rightly or wrongly, the manner of his departure has tarnished his reputation. It also distils Ireland\u2019s love-hate relationship with foreign coaches. Rassie Erasmus<\/a> landed in Munster<\/a> and left after only 17 months with a 78% win ratio. He was succeeded by Johann van Graan, who has gone on great success with Bath<\/a> in the English Prem.<\/p>\n \u201cVan Graan didn\u2019t have the personality to fill the gap [left by Erasmus]. By the end of his second season, the coaching team was breaking up, with the decision of Jerry Flannery<\/a> and Felix Jones to leave. There was a huge reaction to that news when it broke\u2026 The two of them were disciples of Rassie and were uncomfortable in the new church. Flannery went to Harlequins, while for Jones his next stop was South Africa, where he proved a big hit with the Springboks.\u201d<\/p>\n Erasmus now heads up the strongest group of coaches in the international game in his native South Africa, one that now includes Flannery and Jones. Will that exclusive rugby IP ever make its way back home for the benefit of the men in green?<\/p>\n The same doubts currently circle like vultures around some of the modernisations of the Irish system Australian performance director David Nucifora<\/a> looked to introduce during his time in the country [2014-2024]. \u00a0Nucifora had overseen the creation of a pathway for a generation of IQPs [overseas players qualified to play for Ireland] and a revival of the under 20s at age-group level.<\/p>\n Lancaster parachuted into Leinster\u2019s UCD base wearing a superman costume at a peak moment for overseas coaches in Ireland.<\/p>\n He also wanted to manage a healthy men\u2019s sevens programme and promote a big development of the women\u2019s game. In 2021, 62 current or former female players signed a letter to the Irish government expressing a loss of \u2018all trust and confidence in the IRFU\u2019. In May 2025, after \u2018Nussi\u2019 left for Scotland, the union announced it would be culling the men\u2019s sevens setup too.<\/p>\n According to Fanning, a high-ranking Leinster official had commented anonymously: \u201c\u2019You know what\u2019s going to happen, don\u2019t you?\u2019 he asked me. \u2018Eh, no?\u2019 \u2018He\u2019s going to change this, that and the other and as soon as he f***s off back to Australia<\/a> everything will go back to the way it was!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Nucifora\u2019s response to the author insisted Ireland has reached another crossroads. Will it keep pushing the envelope or will it sit on its hands?<\/p>\n \u201c\u2019Irish rugby needs to continue to get better at squeezing every little opportunity to find high-performing talent to bring them through. And that\u2019s either by putting kids into sevens, by looking at IQ [Ireland-qualified], by looking at club rugby, by looking at whatever means you\u2019ve got. You\u2019ve got to use all of them. And traditionally the game would fall back on just using the traditional bloody mechanisms, and if they go back to doing that, they will suffer. They\u2019ve got to keep trying to expand, not contract.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n One of Fanning\u2019s most interesting and praiseworthy decisions as an author is to give Stuart Lancaster a chapter all to himself, and pay him his dues in the development of Irish rugby over the last decade. The Cumbrian will also be a litmus test of Irish rugby\u2019s ability to expand rather than contract in the future.<\/p>\n In 2016, Lancaster became part of the mass migration of England\u2019s 2015 World Cup coaching panel across the Irish Sea. Farrell was already in place as part of Schmidt\u2019s staff, while Graham Rowntree<\/a> joined Munster in 2019 and Mike Catt<\/a> followed in the footsteps of \u2018Faz\u2019 as Schmidt\u2019s new attacking assistant one year later.<\/p>\n Of the quartet, it was Lancaster\u2019s phoenix-like rise from the ashes of England\u2019s World campaign which was the most remarkable. \u201cHe parachuted into Leinster\u2019s UCD base wearing a superman costume\u201d at a peak moment for overseas coaches in Ireland, with Rassie ensconced at Thomond Park, Pat Lam<\/a> in Galway Bay, and Les Kiss up north in Ulster. All of the others have now left, but Lancaster returned for a second bite at the cherry with Connacht.<\/p>\n As Fanning observes: \u201cGradually, it dawned on us Lancaster wasn\u2019t just good for Leinster, but his methods would have a huge influence on the quality of Ireland and the quest to be at the top of the international tree. This was fortuitous and timely. If by then it was obvious that Leinster was the ATM and the other provinces were withdrawing cash increasingly, then there needed to be funds available. The bank depended on it.\u201d<\/p>\n Only two years after Lancaster started work as part of a well-oiled double act with Leo Cullen, Leinster were back where they belonged as double Pro14 and European Cup champions. Lancaster not only coached the players at his disposal, he educated the educators and spread the gospel.<\/p>\n \u201cHe ran any number of sessions in Donnybrook where he was mic\u2019d up, using academy or youths and schools players to demonstrate for the coaches seated in the stand. It worked on a couple of levels, with the public relations almost as good as the content, which coaches are always keen to devour.\u201d<\/p>\n At one stage it appeared Lancaster was odds-on to reprise his role as senior coach with the national team. Fanning quotes one Leinster player as saying, \u201cA lot of lads were thinking it would be Stuart to go up [to Ireland] when Joe was leaving. Stuart came in on pretty much the first day and\u2026he was like: \u2018Look, I\u2019m never taking another coaching job where I\u2019m not on the pitch every single day\u2019. I\u2019d say we were thinking he\u2019ll go up and get a job being a senior coach, which is essentially the role that was created for him in Leinster.\u201d<\/p>\n It didn\u2019t happen then but it might in future. Ireland\u2019s new crossroads moment has arrived after another quarter-final exit at the 2023 World Cup, and they cannot afford to waste any of the coaching resources at their disposal. Fanning quotes Matthew Syed\u2019s distinction between a \u2018growth\u2019 and a \u2018fixed\u2019 mindset earlier in the tome, as the Schmidt era drew to an unhappy close.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Joe-Schmidt-Ireland-1-1024x576.jpg.webp\")
Joe Schmidt had exacting standards and high demands of his Ireland players (Photo by Richard Heathcote \u2013 World Rugby\/World Rugby via Getty Images)<\/p>\n![\"Ireland](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/GettyImages-1182040602-2-1024x576.jpg.webp\")
Ireland were well beaten by the All Blacks at Rugby World Cup<\/a> 2019 (Photo by Stu Forster\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n![\"Stuart](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Lancaster-1024x597.jpg.webp\")
Stuart Lancaster became the perfect tactical foil for Leo Cullen during a prolific era for Leinster (Photo by Bob Bradford \u2013 CameraSport via Getty Images)<\/p>\n