Joe Schmidt (rugby union)
Josef Schmidt HonFRCSI (born 12 September 1965) is a New Zealand rugby union coach, who currently serves as the head coach of the Australia national rugby union team.
Birth name | Josef Schmidt | ||||||||||||
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Date of birth | 12 September 1965 | ||||||||||||
Place of birth | Kawakawa, New Zealand | ||||||||||||
Rugby union career | |||||||||||||
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Schmidt coached Bay of Plenty, and was an assistant coach with the Blues and Clermont Auvergne. He joined Leinster as head coach in 2010, and brought unprecedented success to the province, reaching six finals and winning four trophies in three years.
He was then head coach of Ireland from 2013 to 2019. In six years under his leadership, Ireland won three Six Nations Championships, including a Grand Slam in 2018. Ireland were ranked number 1 in the World Rugby Rankings for the first time in their history in 2019, and recorded their first-ever wins over New Zealand. After leaving Ireland, he served as the attack coach for the All Blacks from 2022 to 2023.