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15th December 2021
04:10pm GMT

Joe Schmidt pictured at Lansdowne Road, in 2018, before Ireland beat the All Blacks. (Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile)[/caption]
"It's a great move for him. I don't think he'll coach the way he coached us, for instance, if he goes into that All Blacks set-up. "And I don't think they'll allow him to coach them like he coached us, in terms of being so structured. But, an incredible and intelligent coach. A great man. He will love being in that environment. He will learn and love being around those good players. "It will be interesting to see what role he has in two, three years time there. But I definitely think it's leading that way - getting him involved with the All Blacks in some capacity. The one thing they will have now, with him even in the background, is detail and discipline. That's a big thing."O'Brien believes that even though Schmidt is coming in as that independent selector, he will have big say in how things are run. "They'll be looking to get an insight from him as to how things worked in the northern hemisphere," he says. "Because I genuinely believe that New Zealand, South Africa, Australia and even Argentina, their discipline, at times, is not as good as it is up here. Joe will help New Zealand a lot with that element of it, and know how we play and how we operate." Current All Blacks head coach Ian Foster is under pressure, back in New Zealand, despite winning The Rugby Championship. Foster's side lost their final championship game against the Springboks and then lost two end-of-year tour games in a row, to Ireland and France.
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