Even six years on from leaving, Joe Schmidt remains intrinsically linked with Irish rugby.
It's not just in the professional game that the former Leinster and Ireland coach is keeping his ear to the ground.
Like many visiting teams to Dublin, the Wallabies had booked Wanderers RFC on Merrion Road for their training base this week, but when a deluge of rain fell on the city on Wednesday night, a late call was made - at 10.47pm to be exact, according to Schmidt – to try find a new venue.
A few calls were made, and the Wallabies were soon able to hold their Thursday morning training session at Blackrock College. "As a Terenure man, that was a really big favour," Schmidt joked.
The New Zealander was in wonderful form on Thursday after naming his side for this evening’s Quilter Nations Series meeting with Ireland.
Enthusiasm at a press conference can often be painted on, but there was no doubting Schmidt's sincerity as he spoke ahead of what could be his final time coaching a team at the Aviva Stadium.
The one downside, he claimed, was that even the late kick-off at the Aviva wouldn't be late enough to allow him get down to Lakelands and watch his adopted club, Terenure, take on their Dublin 6 neighbours St Mary’s College in the All-Ireland League this afternoon.
"I still think of the game a lot through Joe's eyes..." - Tadhg Furlong and James Ryan on Joe Schmidt's lasting legacy in Irish Rugby 🏉
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Nure got multiple mentions from Schmidt when he spoke to the media on Thursday. They were his local club when he lived in Dublin, while he was a patron for the Terenure Tigers, the club’s team for those with special needs.
His son, Tim, played to AIL level with the club, and as coincidence would have it, they are now coached by another famous Kiwi, Carlos Spencer, who Schmidt coached during their time together at the Auckland Blues.
With every year that he’s been out of Ireland, his relationship with the country appears to have grown stronger.
In his nine years coaching Leinster and Ireland, silverware became the norm.
In three seasons as Leinster head coach, he guided the province to two Champions Cup titles, one URC (then Pro12) and a Challenge Cup, before delivering three Six Nations titles, one of which was a Grand Slam, in six years coaching Ireland.
That trophy haul made the breakup all the more painful, as Ireland limped out of the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Schmidt’s final season, an ending that threatened to damage his hard-earned legacy.
But as usual, time has healed many of those wounds.
"He's a hell of a coach," Tadhg Furlong told RTÉ Sport this week.
"I think Irish rugby owes such admiration and respect to Joe and what he did, for not only the team when he was in charge, but some of the systems he put in place, working alongside David Nucifora obviously."
Furlong is one of many in this Irish squad for whom Schmidt had a profound impact.
Of the matchday squad for this Saturday, eight were given Ireland debuts by Schmidt during his time in charge, while four others in the wider squad came through under the New Zealander.
His influence is arguably even stronger in the coaching team. Schmidt brought Andy Farrell in as his assistant in 2016 after he had been let go by England, and his career has gone from strength to strength.
Paul O’Connell and Johnny Sexton were two of Schmidt’s key players during his time in charge of Ireland, while Simon Easterby was his long time forwards coach. John Fogarty and Andrew Goodman also both briefly played under him at Leinster.
"I grew up in international rugby under Joe and I still think of the game a lot through Joe's eyes and some of the phrases and sayings, ingrained in us as a team, you're still kind of thinking that way," Furlong added.
"Even though he's gone, and he's gone a long time, he still has a lasting effect on not only Irish rugby as a whole, but I think with certain players in the group that have been coached by him still."
James Ryan is another of the current Irish frontliners who was given his start under Schmidt, making his Ireland debut against the USA in the summer of 2017 before he had even represented Leinster.
"I hadn't played any rugby and I went on that Irish tour. It was my first taste of what it was like at the highest level," Ryan said.
"I'd say at that age, I was 20, I just took a huge amount from him. You understand what a proper, committed preparation looks like.
"I'm not saying anything that hasn't been said about him before, but the level of prep, the level of detail and understanding of what you need to get across to be ready for the weekend. It was huge and it's definitely something that I learned at that age."
When he left the Ireland job in 2019, he initially said he would be retiring from coaching, and spent some time consulting with World Rugby, before he was tempted to help out with the All Blacks as a selector, and when a Covid-19 outbreak derailed the New Zealand squad during their Test series with Ireland in 2022, it was Schmidt who was brought in to lead the team on the week of the first Test.
The All Blacks hammered Ireland in that first Test, although Farrell’s side would go on to win the series, before Schmidt got his revenge a year later when he was part of the New Zealand coaching team that once again knocked Ireland out of the World Cup.
He got back into head coaching in 2024 when he took on the Wallabies job, a task described this week by the Sydney Morning Herald's Jonathan Drennan as a "bin-fire" after their disastrous World Cup showing the previous year.
"Joe said he was going to take a step back from rugby when he left [Ireland] and I wish he did because you just keep coming up against Joe Schmidt," Furlong laughs, as he looked forward to meeting his old coach once again.
This will be his second – and last – trip to Dublin as Australia head coach, and considering the green tint on this year’s British and Irish Lions, Schmidt should be plenty familiar with the strengths and weaknesses of this Irish side.
"I think Joe understands the Irish system pretty well," Ryan says.
"He understands us pretty well and I get the sense that he loves coming over here with Australia and trying to take us on.
"We've had some big games against them over the years and I know that will be no different this weekend. Both of those went right down to the wire in the last couple of years."
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