Schmidt not tempted to stay on despite Wallabies beating Lions in tour finale
SYDNEY - 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.
Top stories
Swipe. Select. Stay informed.
Singapore Police reopen access to all areas in Marina Bay after crowd congestion eases at NDP Preview area
Singapore Opening of Woodlands Health has eased load on KTPH, sets standard for future hospitals: Ong Ye Kung
Singapore $3b money laundering case: MinLaw names 6 law firms taken to task over involvement in property deals
Asia KTM plans new passenger rail service in Johor Bahru to manage higher footfall expected from RTS
Singapore HSA investigating teen allegedly vaping on MRT train
Asia 4 workers dead after falling into manhole in Japan
Singapore New vehicular bridge connecting Punggol Central and Seletar Link to open on Aug 3
Singapore New S'pore jobs portal launched for North West District residents looking for work near home
"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." REUTERS
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Straits Times
an hour ago
- Straits Times
Lando Norris wins Hungarian Grand Prix in another McLaren one-two
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox McLaren's British driver Lando Norris celebrating after winning the Formula One Hungarian Grand Prix at the Hungaroring circuit in Mogyorod near Budapest, Hungary, on Aug 3, 2025. – Lando Norris fended off teammate Oscar Piastri to win the Hungarian Grand Prix on July 3 and maintain McLaren's relentless march through the season. Mercedes' George Russell took third as McLaren celebrated their 200th Formula One win and fourth consecutive one-two. Norris, on a one-stop strategy, held off a charging Piastri on fresher tyres to take the chequered flag by less than one second. Norris moved to within nine points of Piastri in the drivers' championship ahead of F1's mid-season break. 'I'm dead, it was tough!' said Norris. 'I wasn't planning the one-stop strategy, my voice has gone, but even more rewarding because of that.' 'I pushed as hard as I could, looking forward to a few weeks off,' said Piastri. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore No plans to fully liberalise cross-border ride-hailing services between Singapore and Johor: LTA Singapore LTA, Singapore bus operators reviewing Malaysia's request to start services from JB at 4am World Trump is winning his trade war, but Americans will pay the price Singapore President Tharman meets migrant workers who saved driver of car that fell into sinkhole Singapore Singapore must stay socially progressive while conserving its cultures: President Tharman Sport A 'wake-up call': National coach Gary Tan on Singapore swimmers' performances at WCH 2025 Opinion The charm – and drawbacks – of living in a time warp in Singapore Life KPop Demon Hunters to get sequels, expanded universe to include musical, live-action remake Polesitter Charles Leclerc was furious with his Ferrari team's strategy as he came in fourth leaving the Scuderia still waiting for their first win of the season. AFP
Straits Times
an hour ago
- Straits Times
Former Milan captain Baresi undergoes lung surgery, says recovery underway
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Former AC Milan and Italy defender Franco Baresi is recovering well after undergoing surgery to remove a pulmonary nodule, the Serie A club confirmed on Sunday. The honorary vice president and former captain for Milan underwent a routine medical check which revealed the issue and will undergo oncological recovery therapy with immunotherapy. "Dear fans, I just want to let you know that it will take me a little time to get back to full strength," Baresi said in a statement. The 65-year-old Baresi is regarded as an icon at San Siro, having spent his entire 20-year career with the club and captaining the team for 15 seasons before retiring in 1997. He was part of the Italy squad that won the 1982 World Cup and captained the team to the 1994 final, which ended in a narrow penalty shootout loss to Brazil. REUTERS
Straits Times
an hour ago
- Straits Times
A ‘wake-up call': National coach Gary Tan on Singapore swimmers' performances at WCH 2025
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Gary Tan rates the Singapore swimmers' campaign at the WCH as a "soft" seven out of 10. SINGAPORE – With three national records in two days as well as a final berth on home soil, distance swimmer Gan Ching Hwee shone at the World Aquatics Championships (WCH) in Singapore. The 22-year-old's performance , however, was a rare bright spot for the hosts. No one else from the 16-member Singapore swimming team reached the semi-finals at the WCH Arena, with national coach and performance director Gary Tan labelling it a 'good wake-up call' for the rest. Rating the campaign a 'soft' seven out of 10, he told The Straits Times on Aug 3: 'Could we have seen more semi-finalists? We definitely had more semi-finalists in Doha (2024 WCH) and an Olympic qualifier. This time, we only had one girl in the finals and no semi-finalists.' Swatting away suggestions that the swimmers were focusing on the year-end SEA Games instead, Tan said: 'We were gunning for this. We did whatever we could in our best capacity to prepare them in the best way possible. 'But again, swimming is like this. There will always be days that you'll fall short, and unfortunately it had to happen in Singapore when we missed out on maybe three or four chances to make evening swims.' At the 2024 WCH in Doha, the women's 4x100m medley relay team comprising two pairs of sisters – Quah Ting Wen and Jing Wen as well as Letitia and Levenia Sim – set a national record in the heats to clinch a historic qualification for the Paris Olympics. Letitia (200m medley, 100m and 200m breaststroke), Teong Tzen Wei (50m butterfly) and Jing Wen (200m fly) also reached the semi-finals. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore No plans to fully liberalise cross-border ride-hailing services between S'pore and Johor: LTA Singapore LTA, Singapore bus operators reviewing Malaysia's request to start services from JB at 4am World Trump is winning his trade war, but Americans will pay the price Singapore President Tharman meets migrant workers who saved driver of car that fell into sinkhole Singapore Singapore must stay socially progressive while conserving its cultures: President Tharman Opinion The charm – and drawbacks – of living in a time warp in Singapore Singapore Now flying solo, Acres CEO Kalaivanan Balakrishnan presses ahead with wildlife rescue efforts Life KPop Demon Hunters to get sequels, expanded universe to include musical, live-action remake The Republic did not have any semi-finalist at the 2023 meet in Fukuoka, Japan, while at the 2022 edition in Budapest, Teong finished eighth in the 50m fly final, with Jing Wen reaching the 100m fly semi-finals. At the 2025 WCH, Gan won her 400m free heat and finished 13th overall in 4min 9.81sec to break Lynette Lim's record of 4:11.24 set in 2009. A day later, she smashed two more national records and clinched a spot in the 1,500m free final to become the first female Singapore swimmer to compete in a world championship final since Tao Li finished seventh in the 50m fly in 2007. Her time of 16:01.29 in the heats was almost nine seconds under the 16:10.13 she swam in the 2024 Olympics heats, while her front 800m split of 8:29.93 was also a national record – her previous best at Paris 2024 was 8:32.37. Gan finished seventh in 16:03.51 in the final, which was won by American legend Katie Ledecky. In the 800m free heats, she clocked 8:31.36 to finish 13th out of 30 overall. Gan Ching Hwee clocked 8:31.36 in the 800m free heats to finish 13th out of 30 overall. ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI Tan noted that Gan had prepared for the meet with a clear, year-long plan and others were also preparing, but without the same clarity or intensity which was needed post-Olympics, as performance standards have shifted. Reaching the final now required not just hard work, but a willingness to push beyond limits. 'Hopefully her swim will inspire the others to say 'we can do that as well', but I think they needed a good wake-up (call),' he added. 'This is a good wake-up call for us going into SEA Games and Asian Games because, to be frank, if the others apart from Ching are happy with that performance... we would have lost the plot. 'But I know for a fact that all of them have gone back and really thought about it and reflected about how well they need to be... they are actually having a bit more clarity as to what they need to do.' Besides Gan, Quah Zheng Wen has also shown some form, coming close to all three of his national backstroke records. On Aug 2, the 28-year-old clocked his best (25.38sec) in the men's 50m since setting the national record of 25.13 in 2015. In the 100m, he registered 54.39sec, 0.6 of a second off his national record of 53.79sec. In the 200m back, his 2:00.58 effort was also within a second of the 1:59.49 national record he set in 2017. Quah Zheng Wen came close to all three of his national backstroke records. PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO There were some who struggled with injuries or mental blocks. Tan noted that Teong – who recorded 23.38sec in the 50m fly heats, some way off his 21.97 national record – was still dealing with an elbow issue. Letitia, who clocked 2:27.91 in her 200m breaststroke heat – more than three seconds behind her 2:24.15 national record – mentioned that she was experiencing mental blocks and self-doubt. Calling on swimmers and coaches to heed the lessons from the 2025 WCH, Tan said the fraternity needs to 'work harder, work smarter, work more efficiently and intentfully' ahead of the next big assignments – the Dec 9-20 SEA Games in Thailand and the 2026 Asian Games in Japan. 'I think we are going to go back as a coaching group, to really reassess how to get them better,' said Tan. 'We still didn't perform up to the mark that I wanted them to, and at the end of the day, our saving grace was Ching.' The 2025 WCH saw Singapore field a 72-strong contingent, their largest at the world meet . Besides the 16 swimmers, there were also 10 divers, nine artistic swimmers, eight open water swimmers, and the men and women's water polo squads. Singapore Aquatics president Kenneth Goh said he was proud of how the Singapore contingent performed on home soil and noted that there were milestones across disciplines. He highlighted Gan's campaign, how the open water swimmers finished as South-east Asia's top performers, 14-year-old Ainslee Kwang becoming the first Singaporean diver to qualify for the WCH semi-finals , the artistic swimming duet team finishing 14th with a new personal best, and the men's water polo team beating South Africa to secure their maiden victory on the world stage. Goh added that while these breakthrough moments were savoured, 'we would have liked to have more personal bests and new national records to celebrate'. He added: 'These championships reinforced that sustained success comes from building depth and resilience over the long term. We will continue to strengthen access to world-class coaching, sport science and technical expertise across all disciplines. 'The right competition exposure is critical, and our athletes need regular opportunities to compete and spar against top-tier opponents so that competing at that level becomes normalised.'
