Joe Schmidt has three Tests left with the Wallabies. This is how he wants to be remembered

After two years in charge of the Wallabies, and with three Tests left to coach against Ireland, France and Italy in July, Joe Schmidt is struggling to articulate just what the job has meant to him.

The past is difficult to reflect on when there are still Test matches he desperately wants to win before handing over the reins to his friend Les Kiss. Schmidt is fluent when detailing the minutiae of playbooks and players, but is more reticent about his own legacy as Wallabies coach.

“The first thing when I arrived, I felt like it was a very disparate group; some guys had been left out of the [2023] World Cup squad [under Eddie Jones], other guys had been included,” Schmidt says.

“Some very experienced guys had been left out and felt that their careers were maybe over, so reconnecting everyone was something that we tried to do from the very start, and then just trying to build a way of playing that they enjoy playing.

“I don’t think there’s anything that necessarily immediately transfers from one environment to the other [he had been an assistant with the All Blacks]. You’ve got to get your people together and find out what really drives them.”

Schmidt has led the Wallabies in 28 Tests, winning 11 and losing 17, including four defeats in a row against England, Italy, Ireland and France in November. Last year, the New Zealander also led the Wallabies to an historic victory over South Africa at Ellis Park and a third Test victory against the British and Irish Lions. Pride was restored, but Schmidt is still desperate for results.

Depth has also been built, with 24 players making Test debuts under Schmidt. Captain Harry Wilson, fullback Tom Wright, halfback Jake Gordon and centre Len Ikitau transformed from World Cup omissions under Jones into Test starters. Only when Schmidt is asked how he wants his players to remember him does the conversation move away from detail and towards reflection.

“I’d like to be remembered as being fully invested,” he says. “One of my problems when we sat here two years ago [at Rugby Australia] is that I don’t know these guys.

“I’ve always known players going from Leinster to Ireland, or the [Auckland] Blues to the All Blacks.

“I’d just like to be remembered by them as being fully invested in them as individual players, trying to grow them, and then trying to connect the group up as best I could, particularly from where we started.

“Not all my ideas were bad coaching-wise; I hope they [the players] felt they were in a learning environment where they learnt about themselves and each other.”

One of Schmidt’s boldest coaching