‘Joe Schmidt is an overthinker who tries to play mind games'

Telegraph

4 hours ago

The 63-year-old former Queensland and Australia hooker played the Lions in Cairns on the 1989 tour and remembers well the reception that the Lions received in 2001, when the tourists believed they faced a nationwide campaign to undermine them.
At the time Rod Macqueen's Wallabies were world champions, were ahead of the curve in setting traps for the tourists, whether through criticising their playing style and physicality, or with the future England head coach Eddie Jones in place to give the Lions a bloody nose when they faced his ACT Brumbies side. The tourists won that match by a mere two points, but Australia A defeated them in the build-up to the first Test in Brisbane. The Wallabies edged the series 2-1.
'A coordinated assault,' recalls Nucifora, who played for Queensland from 1986 to 1993 and was on the bench when Australia defeated England in the World Cup final in 1991 at Twickenham.
'When people ask what value can I bring, there's obviously the local knowledge of knowing the places we're in, what we're able to do but I think, more importantly, understanding the mindset, of the Australians and the Wallabies.
'I know how they'll be approaching this, and I know what they're capable of. People would underestimate them at their peril, because they will always be able to put a strong team out that will be super-competitive. And then you've got Joe working with them as well. He's made a big difference in a short period of time. We're going to be in for a really difficult Test series.
'I played in a tour match against the Lions in Cairns. Whatever you think of the non-Test games, the local players are going to lift themselves 20 or 30 per cent. It's a once-in-a-career opportunity to play this iconic team so I guarantee you, it's not just the Wallabies who are thinking about their games. It's all of these Super Rugby teams and the other teams thinking they are going to get one shot at the Lions. Every time we step out on that pitch, those teams are going to be looking to roll us, to really put it to us. The tour is going to be a lot more difficult on the pitch than a lot of people outside of the inner sanctum of the team might appreciate.'
Lions coaches prepared for 'chaos'
That Farrell made Nucifora one of his first appointments reflects the Lions head coach's desire to replicate the 'real-time' feedback that the Australian provided when they worked together with Ireland, instead of waiting weeks after a tour or competition for a report.
When Ireland embarked on the three-Test tour of New Zealand in 2022, the Covid pandemic was still causing complications, and Farrell and Nucifora had included two midweek fixtures against the NZ Maori to intensify the demands on players ahead of the 2023 World Cup. 'On tour, especially one as chaotic as this, you have to be prepared for chaos. S--- is going to go wrong,' Nucifora adds.
'That New Zealand tour was a prime example. It was around the Covid period, and we were moving around New Zealand playing difficult games back to back. And I suppose just trying to keep people calm when things didn't go as they expected. A lot of people like certainty. 'This is going to happen, that is going to happen.' But that is not the reality on these trips, especially one of this size. It is going to go off track at times, and you need to be ready to be able to adapt and adjust.
'Test-match rugby can become a little bit sterile at times. You've got these weeks of preparation and you're only worried about playing the Test match, that's all you do.
'Well, all of a sudden, we've got a very complicated travel itinerary with games every three days or four days. You've got teams about to play, teams preparing to play. You've got medics working on players, trying to get them fit. There's a lot of stuff going on and it is about being able to try to keep people focused on what's important when it gets a bit chaotic. Keep them calm.
'The piece of magic that you need is to understand how you bring people together. It's no good just having talent if it doesn't understand how it works in a cohesive way. So to be able to put together a plan on the field and off the field that gets people thinking, behaving and acting in unison, that's the only way that you exponentially get the value out of the talent. If you can't do that, then you have four countries that come together with a lot of good players, but don't really gel. That's the same with the staff as well. How do you do it in a short space of time? That's what a lot of work goes into – to make that happen.'