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\u201cJoe Schmidt coaching the Irish rugby union team<\/a>\u201d by OvalDigest (CCO 1.0 PDD<\/a>)<\/p>\n Joe Schmidt spent six very successful years coaching Ireland\u2019s national rugby union team<\/a><\/span><\/span>. He left the role after the 2019 Rugby World Cup where he was succeeded by his defence coach and assistant Andy Farrell. In celebration of Ireland\u2019s former boss from New Zealand, here are six major highlights from Schmidt\u2019s time in charge.<\/p>\n \u201c2014 Six Nations Championship: France vs Ireland<\/a>\u201d by Cangadoba (CC BY-SA 3.0<\/a>)<\/p>\n Within a year of leaving Leinster for the Irish national job<\/a><\/span><\/span>, Schmidt had already steered the team to the Six Nations Championship. A narrow 22-20 away win in the Stade de France sealed the first silverware of his reign.<\/p>\n Winning in Argentina <\/strong><\/p>\n Ireland may have gone on tour to Argentina as Six Nations champions, but they had never won a Test away to the Pumas. Schmidt took the visitors to consecutive victories over their South American opposition and a first-ever winning series there.<\/p>\n Record tenth consecutive Test triumph <\/strong><\/p>\n During Ireland\u2019s defence of their Six Nations crown, they also equalled a record of 10 successive victories. Matching what the vaunted side of 2009 did wasn\u2019t easy, but a 19-9 win courtesy of Robbie Henshaw\u2019s try and the kicking of Jonny Sexton sent the Aviva Stadium in Dublin into raptures.<\/p>\n Miracle in Newlands<\/strong><\/p>\n To play three-quarters of any rugby match a man down takes some doing, but to do so on tour in South Africa in the opening Test of the 2016 series in the rainbow nation and still somehow win is arguably Ireland\u2019s best performance under Schmidt. Ireland wouldn\u2019t exactly have been favourites in the rugby betting on this game<\/a><\/span><\/span> in the circumstances.<\/p>\n CJ Stander saw red and Henshaw spent the last 10 minutes before half-time in the Newlands sin bin to makes things even worse. Yet Ireland somehow recorded a famous 26-20 victory. Although they would go on to lose the series, this really was a standout display against a side that would go on to be Rugby World Cup winners.<\/p>\n Ireland 40-29 New Zealand<\/strong><\/p>\n Irish sides had been trying to beat the mighty All Blacks for over a century. There was the famous draw of 1973, but they knew nothing but defeat from the rest of rugby history. That all changed when Ireland, coached by Schmidt, stepped into Soldier Field across the Atlantic in Chicago for a 2016 Autumn International.<\/p>\nSix Nations Success<\/h3>\n
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![Joe Schmidt coaching the Irish rugby union team<\/a>\u201d by OvalDigest (](\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Joe_Schmidt_coaching_Irish_team.jpg\"){kind=link}
![2014 Six Nations Championship: France vs Ireland<\/a>\u201d by Cangadoba (](\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Six_nations_2014_France_vs_Ireland_16.JPG\"){kind=link}