Leinster greatest coach??

[wixfjord]

Honestly find it a little strange to see the lack of esteem Joe seems to be held in. He brought our play to another level. By a distance our best coach for me.

[Blueberry]

Joe was incredible but for me as head coach Leo is just ahead....these by the way are great complaints to have, in essence we are arguing whether brilliant or superb is better......

[Morf]

Schmidt suffers from being great while he is in situ and seeing the limitations quite clearly in his absence.

No doubt an excellent coach like Bielsa in soccer but people are relatively glad to see the back of them once things falter as the methods are so demanding on the players/staff.

Farrell is the Ancellotti to Schmidt's Mourinho.

[wixfjord]

Schmidt suffers from being great while he is in situ and seeing the limitations quite clearly in his absence.

No doubt an excellent coach like Bielsa in soccer but people are relatively glad to see the back of them once things falter as the methods are so demanding on the players/staff.

Farrell is the Ancellotti to Schmidt's Mourinho.

Who was glad to see the back of Schmidt in Leinster?

[blockhead]

Schmidt suffers from being great while he is in situ and seeing the limitations quite clearly in his absence.

No doubt an excellent coach like Bielsa in soccer but people are relatively glad to see the back of them once things falter as the methods are so demanding on the players/staff.

Farrell is the Ancellotti to Schmidt's Mourinho.

Who was glad to see the back of Schmidt in Leinster?

Munster

[joooooe]

Schmidt suffers from being great while he is in situ and seeing the limitations quite clearly in his absence.

No doubt an excellent coach like Bielsa in soccer but people are relatively glad to see the back of them once things falter as the methods are so demanding on the players/staff.

Farrell is the Ancellotti to Schmidt's Mourinho.

Who was glad to see the back of Schmidt in Leinster?

Matt O'Connor

[ronk]

Schmidt suffers from being great while he is in situ and seeing the limitations quite clearly in his absence.

No doubt an excellent coach like Bielsa in soccer but people are relatively glad to see the back of them once things falter as the methods are so demanding on the players/staff.

Farrell is the Ancellotti to Schmidt's Mourinho.

Who was glad to see the back of Schmidt in Leinster?

Or Ireland

[Dave Cahill]

Leinster, no.

Ireland, maybe. Ultimately the world cup was a failure and a lot of that was due to decisions he made. If you think the world cup matters, then of course he had to go - either by his own hand or another's. If you don't think the world cup matters, then sure what harm if he stayed on and rectified the mistakes he made.

[ronk]

Leinster, no.

Ireland, maybe. Ultimately the world cup was a failure and a lot of that was due to decisions he made. If you think the world cup matters, then of course he had to go - either by his own hand or another's. If you don't think the world cup matters, then sure what harm if he stayed on and rectified the mistakes he made.

I think he burnt out and wouldn't be much use to anyone this season. He was amazing before that.

[Dave Cahill]

Leinster, no.

Ireland, maybe. Ultimately the world cup was a failure and a lot of that was due to decisions he made. If you think the world cup matters, then of course he had to go - either by his own hand or another's. If you don't think the world cup matters, then sure what harm if he stayed on and rectified the mistakes he made.

I think he burnt out and wouldn't be much use to anyone this season. He was amazing before that.

Probably a bit of burn out and a bit of reaching the point of dimishing returns after being in charge for 5 years (and for some players, longer).

He is unquestionably Leinster's greatest coach though. Leo can come back and say hi when he has another two European trophies on the mantel.

[Ruckedtobits]

Leinster, no.

Ireland, maybe. Ultimately the world cup was a failure and a lot of that was due to decisions he made. If you think the world cup matters, then of course he had to go - either by his own hand or another's. If you don't think the world cup matters, then sure what harm if he stayed on and rectified the mistakes he made.

I think he burnt out and wouldn't be much use to anyone this season. He was amazing before that.

Probably a bit of burn out and a bit of reaching the point of dimishing returns after being in charge for 5 years (and for some players, longer).

He is unquestionably Leinster's greatest coach though. Leo can come back and say hi when he has another two European trophies on the mantel.

+1, +1

[riocard911]

Leinster, no.

Ireland, maybe. Ultimately the world cup was a failure and a lot of that was due to decisions he made. If you think the world cup matters, then of course he had to go - either by his own hand or another's. If you don't think the world cup matters, then sure what harm if he stayed on and rectified the mistakes he made.

I think he burnt out and wouldn't be much use to anyone this season. He was amazing before that.

Probably a bit of burn out and a bit of reaching the point of dimishing returns after being in charge for 5 years (and for some players, longer).

He is unquestionably Leinster's greatest coach though. Leo can come back and say hi when he has another two European trophies on the mantel.

Agree 100%!!

[Workhorse]

I don't think there's really much discussion to be had here, has to be Schmidt. Changed Irelands approach to rugby nevermind Leinster. Chieka deserves great credit for basically instilling a bit more drive in the team and got rid of the "ladyboys" tag, and Leo and Stuart deserve great credit for how they're managing player development but I think Schmidt basically did what Stu and Leo are doing together by himself and Chieka was a great coach but I don't know how good you can say he was at player development and man management or developing systems below first team level.

It's no coincidence that Leinsters academy really became the conveyor belt of talent it is today under his watch. The sheer attention to detail that he brought and insisted on having systems in place so that there was that level of detail across the board has had a serious effect on rugby in Leinster at every level. He also developed the blend of academy and experienced players to best bring players through, I can't remember where I read it but some ex leinster player was basically saying how he was an expert at knowing how many young lads to drop in and when whereas before it was very sink or swim with no methodology behind it. And the fact Leo and Stu are still using that system is testament to just how good it was.

Obviously he wasn't/isn't the perfect coach and had/has his flaws, but the man basically built the Leinster juggernaut that we see today that is basically the model club in the world along with maybe Crusaders and its sad to see people letting recency bias in the form of a tough world cup taint that

[blockhead]

I don't think there's really much discussion to be had here, has to be Schmidt. Changed Irelands approach to rugby nevermind Leinster. Chieka deserves great credit for basically instilling a bit more drive in the team and got rid of the "ladyboys" tag, and Leo and Stuart deserve great credit for how they're managing player development but I think Schmidt basically did what Stu and Leo are doing together by himself and Chieka was a great coach but I don't know how good you can say he was at player development and man management or developing systems below first team level.

It's no coincidence that Leinsters academy really became the conveyor belt of talent it is today under his watch. The sheer attention to detail that he brought and insisted on having systems in place so that there was that level of detail across the board has had a serious effect on rugby in Leinster at every level. He also developed the blend of academy and experienced players to best bring players through, I can't remember where I read it but some ex leinster player was basically saying how he was an expert at knowing how many young lads to drop in and when whereas before it was very sink or swim with no methodology behind it. And the fact Leo and Stu are still using that system is testament to just how good it was.

Obviously he wasn't/isn't the perfect coach and had/has his flaws, but the man basically built the Leinster juggernaut that we see today that is basically the model club in the world along with maybe Crusaders and its sad to see people letting recency bias in the form of a tough world cup taint that

Excellent post.
2 Heinos, a Challenge Cup, a Pro14 and 3 Six Nations.
Add to that 1st and 2nd win over the All Blacks, a test win in South Africa and a series win in Oz. World no1 standing for a while. All this in a 8 year period.

[ronk]

If the IRFU rated Leo higher/same than Joe then he would be the Irish coach right now.

Toulon and Saracens peaked after Schmidt left. He had an easier time in terms of a settled squad. Schmidt also gets a free pass for not getting out of our group because of the Challenge Cup. He was still super.

But I'm happy we still have Leo and Stu.

[Avenger]

Schmidt suffers from being great while he is in situ and seeing the limitations quite clearly in his absence.

No doubt an excellent coach like Bielsa in soccer but people are relatively glad to see the back of them once things falter as the methods are so demanding on the players/staff.

Farrell is the Ancellotti to Schmidt's Mourinho.

Who was glad to see the back of Schmidt in Leinster?

Munster

[Workhorse]

If the IRFU rated Leo higher/same than Joe then he would be the Irish coach right now.

Toulon and Saracens peaked after Schmidt left. He had an easier time in terms of a settled squad. Schmidt also gets a free pass for not getting out of our group because of the Challenge Cup. He was still super.

But I'm happy we still have Leo and Stu.

Toulon may have peaked after Schmidt left but it was the season after, they were still absolutely quality in the years building to that. Then throw in Clermont, Montpellier, Toulouse, Tigers, Quins, Saints all quality sides around that time plus Munster, Ospreys and Ulster before they fell off a cliff for a while. There wasn't exactly a shortage of quality around despite Saracens just being on the up. Winning a competition isn't a free pass, especially when you beat Wasps, Stade and Biarritz to do it and beat them all quite convincingly too