The Daily Telegraph have released an article which launched a serious swipe at head coach Joe Schmidt.
The article was entitled, '10 myths that the rugby world cup exposed', and it claimed that Ireland's failure in the quarter-final at the World Cup debunked the myth that 'Joe Schmidt is a coaching Messiah', stating:
Having led Ireland to consecutive Six Nations championships, Ireland were seen by many as the northern hemisphere's strongest side going into the tournament.
Schmidt, it was believed, had found a winning formula that was principally pragmatic but possessed enough class in the outside backs to cause even the stronger sides at the World Cup real problems.
All appeared to be going to plan until injuries to Jonathan Sexton, Paul O'Connell and Peter O'Mahony in the win over France derailed the team's progress. In the end, despite all of Schmidt's achievements since taking over as head coach two years ago, at the RWC itself it was the same old story for Ireland.
A shocking start in the quarter-final against Argentina saw the Irish 17-0 down after 13 minutes, and although they rallied, the Pumas still romped home to a 40-23 win.
Ireland's record of never having got beyond the last eight at the Rugby World Cup continued, and Schmidt was perhaps not the Messiah the Irish had hoped he was.
Now we are not claiming that Joe Schmidt is a coaching 'Messiah' but we see it necessary to defend a coach who has brought continuous success to Irish rugby, the likes which had never been seen before.
The Irish coach is a back to back Six Nations champion, a two-time Heineken cup winner with Leinster and he has beaten every tier 1 nation except for new Zealand, who they came within a hairs breadth of doing.
Maybe he is not a 'Messiah' but who ever claimed he was? He is an exceptional coach and you can look no further than the fact that England have reportedly tried to lure him away from Ireland to help save the shambles that is English rugby at the minute.
