Joe Schmidt is an Irish citizen these past two years and has been living here since 2010 but he will probably always be referred to as a Kiwi.
“Does that mean we’re any less Irish?” the Ireland coach mused during a chat with reporters at the Rugby Writers of Ireland awards. “It probably does because my accent is a bit weird.”
Schmidt has lived nine of his 52 years on this earth in this country but accepts that he will always looked upon as an outsider. Many sports fans appreciate what he has done for rugby in this country and are very fond of the man but he is from New Zealand. The truth is somewhere in between – he is both Irish and Kiwi – and that is what we should embrace.
Schmidt was quizzed on a number of topics this week and while he left the door open for Simon Zebo’s return to the Irish set-up, possibly for the 2018 Six Nations, his comments on foreign players representing Ireland stood out.
Bundee Aki is set to be the latest player from outside these shores to pull on an Ireland jersey. He has satisfied World Rugby’s three-year ‘Residency Rule’ requirements and worked hard to get himself into the Test picture. Tyler Bleyendaal of Munster should follow him down that path next year.
Schmidt, always a keen number-cruncher, notes that the amount of foreign players in Ireland’s recent squads has been between 6 and 7%. In reasoning how big a commitment it was for players to move to another country on the difficult chance of getting internationally capped, Schmidt inadvertently made an argument for Zebo’s impending move to France’s Top 14. He said:
“The average professional career is six years, so there are a lot that are a lot shorter than that and there are a few that are quite a bit longer than that.
“If you estimate that it’s six years and that it takes you three years to qualify for a country, that’s half your career waiting to play somewhere.”
Six years. That is the average length of time a player has at the top and to make some decent earnings. With four French clubs willing to double Zebo’s wages [to an estimated €700,000 per annum], one can understand why he is moving.
Zebo’s transfer was discussed on The Hard Yards podcast [from 9:30 below], with former Ireland flanker Stephen Ferris weighing in on the matter.
Several Irish internationals, including Tadhg Furlong, CJ Stander, Peter O’Mahony, Iain Henderson, Tommy Bowe and Rory Best, are out of contract at the end of this season so Zebo’s axing may be a message to those who want to represent Ireland but who may be reluctant to sign new offers. Ferris says:
“If there was a half a million or £600,000 contract put in front of any of those lads, they’d be silly not to take it.
“It doesn’t matter what’s around the corner, or anything like that. It’s a short career, as I well know.”
Ferris continues, “I feel sorry for the fella. He’s made a decision that, if I was in his position, I probably would have done the exact same. He’s just got to stick by it now.”
When proven internationals like Ferris and Shane Horgan, and Munster director of rugby Rassie Erasmus, are backing Zebo’s call and Schmidt is speaking about how short pro rugby careers are, it is a wonder that the Munster winger is getting flak at all.
