Rugby-Schmidt not tempted to stay on despite Wallabies beating Lions in tour finale

The Star

4 days ago

FILE PHOTO: Rugby Union - Autumn Internationals - England v Australia - Allianz Stadium Twickenham, London, Britain - November 9, 2024 Australia head coach Joe Schmidt before the match Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Boyers/File Photo
SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australia coach Joe Schmidt said he would be sticking to his plan to stand down next July despite his team showing some genuine promise by winning the final test against the British & Irish Lions 22-12 on Saturday.
Robbie Deans was sacked as coach after his Wallabies side lost 2-1 to the Lions in 2013 but encouraging performances during this series, capped by the third test victory, meant Schmidt was faced with questions about staying on.
Schmidt originally signed a short-term deal up until the end of the Lions series because of his desire to spend more time with his family in New Zealand and help look after his youngest son, who has severe epilepsy.
In April, he agreed to extend the deal until next July when he is scheduled to hand over the reins to Queensland Reds coach Les Kiss.
"I'm looking forward to Les Kiss coming in and taking over," the 59-year-old said when asked about extending again until the 2027 World Cup, which Australia will host.
"I actually apologise to the players. A little while ago, I bit one of their heads off, and my son had had a bad day. I can normally separate the two things, but it does impact me when he's had a bad day.
"I know that I've a short enough shelf life and need to be more present at home. I haven't been home for two months.
"As much as I just think they're a great group of young men. There's other things that I need to make sure I tick off."
In victory as in defeat, Schmidt is not given to hyperbolic comments about his team and he merely said that he had been impressed by how they bounced back after losing the second test, and the series, to a late try in Melbourne last week.
He also gave a little insight into the thoroughness of his preparations after Saturday's match was suspended for 40 minutes due to a lightning warning in the area.
That the Wallabies came out firing after the delay while the Lions were a bit flat was clearly no accident.
"We had been warned that there might be lightning, so we had a little bit of a plan," Schmidt said.
"We wanted to make sure that players kept moving. So we had different guys rotating onto the bikes.
"We had four balls in the changing room that we've just thrown around just so they could stay connected, and the rest of the time it was really just trying to get us organised for the restart of the game.
"The players stayed dialled in really well."
(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, editing by Peter Rutherford)