Eddie O’Sullivan is clearly not a fan of the defensive tactics of Australia’s head coach Joe Schmidt
O’Sullivan was in charge of Ireland from 2001-2008, before he was replaced by Declan Kidney. And while O’Sullivan’s Ireland never landed a Six Nations title, the Triple Crowns won during his reign were a far cry from the dark days of the 90s.
After Kidney was shown the door, Schmidt took over following a hugely successful period at the Leinster helm. He subsequently led Ireland to three Six Nations Championships before stepping down after the 2019 World Cup.
The New Zealander has won plaudits for his work with the Australia team. He took over in January and has been slowly building them up after a disastrous 2023 World Cup under Eddie Jones.
Despite vast improvement, the Wallabies’ defence has been loose at times, conceding 67 against Argentina in September, 37 in their Autumn win over England, and 27 during last week’s loss to Scotland.
O’Sullivan highly critical of Joe Schmidt
On the Indo Sport podcast, O’Sullivan was frank in his assessment of Schmidt’s failings ahead of Ireland’s clash with the Wallabies on Saturday.
He said:
“They have a penchant for defending very badly.
“Their defensive system is an extraordinarily soft drift defence that nobody uses anymore because it’s so dated.
“I put it to you now, if they keep defending like they’re defending, it won’t be a tight game. I think Ireland will hurt them and that’s if Ireland do their homework.
“That’s where I would be going next week. Get around those outside channels really aggressively.
“We all know he’s a world-class coach, there’s no doubt about that.
“It’s just such a big aspect of your game, your defence. It’s that, to me, it looks very dated and soft and it does invite the opposition to run at you. And they got cut to ribbons in Murrayfield.
Schmidt will lead Australia against an Andy Farrell-coached Lions next summer.
When asked by host Joe Molly whether Schmidt will be holding back some moves on Saturday, Eddie responded in classic fashion: “No I don’t think so. July is a different bag of spanners altogether. You know, you get back home, circle the wagons, look at what’s coming down the pike and say, ‘Right, how do we get over this one?’.”
