Schmidt eager for fan's eye view before last Dublin clash as Wallabies boss

commonwealth of australia train Joe helmut heinrich waldemar schmidt has achieved many things in a succesful rugby football vocation, but the former Ireland boss is looking forward to experiencing what it feels like to be a fan in the "sardine can of pressure" that is Dublin's Aviva Stadium on Saturday.

Schmidt is in the middle of a long goodbye to the Wallabies, having said he will stand down next year in order to spend more time with his son Luke, who suffers from epilepsy.

But that still leaves time for one last match in charge of Australia at the Aviva, built on the site of the old Lansdowne Road.

It is a ground the 60-year-old New Zealander knows well both from his time guiding Dublin-based provincial side Leinster to back-to-back Champions Cup triumphs, in 2011 and 2012, and then overseeing a trio of Six Nations titles with Ireland, including a 2018 Grand Slam.

"I love the stadium, you know, even though it dips away at one end, which was always something that was a bit unusual," a reflective Schmidt told reporters on Thursday after naming his team.

"I have always thought, I know this may sound bizarre, but going past the Sandymount Hotel, I look at all those people having pints and really enjoying themselves, and I'm feeling like I'm in this sardine can of pressure.

"I look out there and think 'one day I'm going to get amongst those people and drift into that stadium and enjoy watching a game where I'm not so emotionally hanging off everything that happens'".

Before then Schmidt, who will hand over the Australia reins to his former Ireland assistant and Ulster coach Les Kiss, still has work to do.

Saturday's match is a chance for the Wallabies to get their Autumn Nations Series campaign back on track following successive losses at England and Italy .

- 'Emotionally connected' -

The defeats, part of a sequence of five reverses in their last six Tests, have come at an awkward time for the Wallabies as they look to bolster their ranking ahead of the upcoming draw for the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia.

"I'd take it pretty hard when we lose, and I take it pretty hard when we don't play to our potential, because that's all we can control," said Schmidt.

"Sometimes, because these teams are so good, sometimes they're just better than we are on the day, even though on the day we've delivered a good performance.

"So, it is tough. You're emotionally connected to the job. It's one of those privileges of being so invested in something, but it's also a blight when things don't go well."

Schmidt has recalled veteran fly-half James O'Connor, who steered the Wallabies to a sensational win over world champions South Africa at Johannesburg's Ellis Park in August, with the 35-year-old back in the No 10 shirt after Carter Gordon suffered a quad injury against Italy

Australia have used five fly-halves this year but O'Connor missed the Twickenham clash as Leicester, his English club, were not obliged to release him for a match taking place outside World Rugby's designated international window.

Exeter centre Len Ikitau, the recent John Eales Medal winner as Australia's best player for 2025, was similarly ruled out of the England game after the Wallabies began their tour with a hard-fought 19-15 win over Japan in Tokyo last month.

"We've got to build some depth," said Schmidt.

"I feel like that strength and depth, if you don't have it, you're too vulnerable.

"And so some of it is almost preordained because we didn't have players available to us for the England game or the Japan game from the northern hemisphere," he added.

jdg/iwd

AVIVA

---

---