Ireland coach Joe Schmidt has hinted that he is set to leave the role when his contract ends after next year’s rugby World Cup.
Schmidt, who has been touted as a successor to Steve Hansen as coach of his native New Zealand when both of their contracts expire after the 2019 tournament, has promised to make a final decision on his future early next week.
“I’ve given them (the Irish Rugby Football Union) an indication and I just need to talk to people tomorrow, and early next week it will be made public,” Schmidt told a news conference after his side beat the United States 57-14.
“They (the IRFU) have said don’t be rash, if you change your mind we’d love to continue that conversation or if you change your mind we don’t need to have a conversation or if we just continue as we are, that’s great.’
“So they’ve set out about five different scenarios just in case we can sort something out without too much drama.”
The hugely popular 53-year-old coach has spent the last eight years in Ireland, having coached Leinster before taking the national job and leading Ireland to three Six Nations titles in his five seasons in charge.
After beating the All Blacks for the second time in two years last week, Schmidt will take Ireland to the World Cup in Japan in 10 months time as one of the tournament favourites.
In their final Test of 2018, Ireland’s deep talent pool was on show against the US to claim an 11th win in 12 games.
The open, scrappy encounter at Lansdowne Road was still a significant game for an almost entirely new-look home side as winger Andrew Conway stood out with a hat-trick of tries while Jack Conan and Rhys Ruddock showed off Ireland’s plethora of back-row options.
The spirited visitors, ranked 13th in the world, threatened to make a game of it by levelling things up again at 14-all before they were overwhelmed.
Ireland ledt by 10 points at halftime and went on with it in the secnd half.
“It’s a massive credit to not only Joe and his coaching staff but also the health of Irish rugby at the moment,” US coach Gary Gold said.
