Paul O’Connell says “fantastic coach” Joe Schmidt’s influence is still evident within the Ireland squad before Saturday’s reunion at Aviva Stadium.
Schmidt, who led Ireland to three Six Nations titles and a historic first win over the All Blacks during a six-year spell in charge, will bring his improving Australia side to Dublin for this weekend’s climactic autumn Test.
And O’Connell, who captained Ireland under Schmidt, had nothing but praise for the New Zealander before this week’s reunion.
“He was very successful with Leinster and Ireland and probably still has a bit of an influence over things we do in here in terms of how we play the game,” said Ireland forwards coach O’Connell.
“I enjoyed it [playing for Schmidt], I was an older player when he took over, I was probably hanging on a little bit and I was able to find my niche in what he was doing. I enjoyed how we played, but I probably enjoyed how he coached more than anything.
“He’s a teacher, and he had a lot of teaching principles in how he coached. I played nine times against New Zealand as a player and failed to beat them and he was part of that coaching staff that broke that duck [in 2016] and did it again in 2018.”