Joe Schmidt

Josef Schmidt HonFRCSI (born 12 September 1965) is a New Zealand and Irish rugby union coach, who currently serves as the head coach of the Australia national rugby union team.

Schmidt coached Bay of Plenty, and was an assistant coach with the Blues and Clermont Auvergne.

In 1991, during a gap year, Schmidt travelled to Ireland with his wife Kellie to take up an offer by Foras Áiseanna Saothair (FÁS) to coach the underage teams (called the minis) of Mullingar RFC in the Midlands region and he also played amateur rugby in the Irish lower leagues.

He then returned to New Zealand to take up a teaching position.

He taught English and/or coached at Palmerston North Boys' High, Napier Boys' High School and Tauranga Boys' College, where he was deputy principal.

Schmidt took up the option to coach New Zealand Schools, before leaving teaching to coach Bay of Plenty from 2003 to 2004.

While at the Steamers he won the Ranfurly Shield defeating Auckland on 15 August 2004.

The Steamers had one successful defence of the title before losing to Canterbury.

Schmidt joined the Blues as assistant coach from 2004 to 2007 where, in his final year, they were knocked out in the semi-final.

Schmidt moved to Europe and joined Clermont Auvergne in 2007 as backs coach under Vern Cotter who he had previously worked with in Auckland.

Between 2007 and 2009, Clermont failed to progress past the group stages, but during the 2009–10 Heineken Cup, Schmidt's last season with Clermont, Clermont advanced to the quarter-finals, but lost to Leinster 29–28.

The side finished Top 14 runners-up twice in 2008 & 2009.

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.

In 2010 the side finally won the competition, after 11 appearances in the final.

In Europe, Clermont made less of an impact in the competition than in the Top 14.

Schmidt took over as Leinster head coach from Michael Cheika for the 2010–11 season.

Under his leadership Leinster won the 2011 Heineken Cup, after beating Northampton Saints 33–22, and lost to Munster in the Celtic League Grand Final in May 2011.

In the 2011–2012 season, he coached Leinster to a second Pro12 final, losing to the Ospreys 31–30, and led the team to the 2012 Heineken Cup Final, where Leinster retained their title beating Ulster 42–14.

In his final year in charge, he coached Leinster to win the Amlin Challenge Cup and Pro12 titles, beating Stade Français 34–13 and Ulster 24–18 respectively.

He ended his Leinster tenure with an overall record of 77 wins from 99 matches, which included a 75% win rate in the Pro 12 and an 85% win rate in Europe.

He was then head coach of Ireland from 2013 to 2019.

The IRFU announced on 29 April 2013 that Schmidt would leave his position as Leinster coach to take over the Ireland coaching position left vacant by Declan Kidney.

His first game in charge of Ireland was against Samoa on 9 November 2013 - Ireland won the match 40–9 The following week, Ireland were convincingly beaten by Australia, losing 32–15.

However, on 24 November, Ireland had a 19–0 lead against New Zealand but went on to lose by 24–22 after Aaron Cruden scored an overtime conversion for New Zealand.

On 15 March 2014, Schmidt's Ireland side defeated France in Paris 22–20 to lift the 2014 Six Nations Championship title, his first silverware with the nation.

His only loss was to England at Twickenham 13–10.

In June 2014, Ireland claimed their first ever test series win over Argentina during their 2014 Argentine test series.

The first test, marked Ireland's first ever win over Argentina on Argentine soil, winning 29–17.

In November 2014 during the end-of-year rugby union internationals, Ireland defeated South Africa, Georgia and Australia to move to third in the World Rugby Rankings.

In December 2014, Schmidt was named as the Philips Sports Manager of the Year and named as the manager of the Year at the 2014 RTÉ Sports awards.

Schmidt's first contract would run until the end of the 2015–16 season.

On 1 March 2015, Ireland won their tenth test match in a row after a 19–9 win against England in the 2015 Six Nations Championship, equalling an Irish record set in 2003.

That run came to an end in the next match on 15 March when Ireland lost 23–16 against Wales at the Millennium Stadium, a defeat that ended Ireland's hopes of winning the Grand Slam.

During the final week of the 2015 Six Nations, Ireland, England, France and Wales were all in the chance to claim the title.

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.

Schmidt was born in Kawakawa, Northland, New Zealand, and brought up in Woodville near Palmerston North.

He went to Tararua College in Pahiatua.

After training as a school teacher, Schmidt played rugby in New Zealand, including 29 games in the provincial championship for Manawatu.