‘Nervous’ Joe Schmidt makes surprising admission about ‘daunting’ Wallabies rebuild and provides captaincy update

Brisbane, Australia. 25th June, 2024. Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt is seen during an Australian Wallabies training session at Ballymore in Brisbane, Tuesday, June 25, 2024. (AAP Image/Darren England) NO ARCHIVING Credit: Australian Associated Press/Alamy L

New Wallabies boss Joe Schmidt admits that he is “unprepared” and “nervous” about the task at hand.

The 58-year-old’s job begins in earnest as they build towards the opening Test of his tenure, against Wales next weekend.

Schmidt officially took charge in March but only named his first squad last Friday ahead of the mid-year encounters next month.

There were 12 uncapped players selected, plus ex-All Blacks prop Alex Hodgman, as he decided against picking overseas-based individuals and those moving out of Australian rugby union.

That means the likes of the NRL-bound Mark Nawaqanitawase and Carter Gordon have missed out, with the Wallabies head coach taking an opportunity to refresh the group.

Picking up the pieces

Schmidt has a huge job on his hands after Eddie Jones’ disastrous 10 months in charge, which culminated in a pool stage exit at the Rugby World Cup, and the former Ireland boss admitted that he has “never been so unprepared.”

He added: “This is the one time I’ve got to meet all these players, and in those previous roles, I’d had three years with Leinster, and I knew a greater proportion of that squad.

“Before the All Blacks, I had the Blues, and so, yeah, it’s a little bit daunting, to be honest.

“But if I wasn’t nervous, I don’t think I’d be on the edge doing my job right. So I’m happy to be nervous because it just encourages me to work a bit harder and engage a bit quicker and a bit more often with the players so that we can try to be on the same page.

“One thing I would say is I’ve got real confidence in our coaching group. Laurie [Fisher] ran a lot of today’s session with the defence, and he’s a ball of energy. And he’s a catalyst for enthusiastic contribution, and did a really good job with today’s session, and around the edges.

“The unit session yesterday, I love the way Mike Cron and Geoff Parling have combined to deliver and demand what they have from the big boys up front, and Eoin Toolan is just chipping away on some of the skill tidy-ups we think that can make a difference for our backs particularly.”

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Captaincy

Such is the rebuild needed at the Wallabies, Schmidt has yet to identify his captain with no one named when the squad was announced.

That position was a revolving door under Jones and the new head coach is still undecided as to who will take that responsibility against Wales, despite being impressed by the leadership of certain players.

“We’ve got a real mix of leaders within the group, and what I have seen has been really encouraging,” he said.

“There [are] guys who’ve got good experience, there [are] guys who lead by example, and there [are] guys who speak well. So, and I’m just getting to know them. So the complication for me is just, first of all, I think it’s easier to select that first captain once you’ve selected your team to make sure they’re a starting player.

“And then from there, I think you gauge how well they go, and we just progressed through this first three-week block. Probably, there’ll be a little bit of movement in the side.

“I’m pretty sure that we’ll use more than just 15 of the same starters, so that there could be a different captain for one or two of the Tests.”