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'It’s like getting a peek behind the curtain when you have Joe as a coach'

James Tracy broke down the rugby ‘genius’ of Joe Schmidt on Rugby Weekly Extra.

AHEAD OF SATURDAY’S clash between Ireland and Joe Schmidt’s Australia, James Tracy reflected on the experience of playing under Schmidt on the latest episode of Rugby Weekly Extra, the podcast for subscribers to The 42. 

“He is a complete genius and freak of nature at the same time,” Tracy said.

“When you’re talking about the granular detail, I’ve been in moments with him where he’s in the middle of training and he’s picked up on something five minutes after it’s happened.

“He’s noticed that the winger’s body language looks switched off, or that my heels weren’t on the line, or that the 12 was slightly too wide. He’ll have 20 things that he has picked up on in milliseconds that are, like, 70 metres apart.

“He’s able to bring all these things together, paint a picture and deliver it in such a concise way. He’s nothing short of a genius from that point of view. His ability to break down everything that happens into slow motion and why it happens, and then come up with a way to deal with it is amazing.

“For his players, it’s like getting a peek behind the curtain when you have him as a coach, because he just shows you these little moments and little frailties in teams.”

Tracy added: “If you do what he says, I would say it works 90% of the time. It’s incredible. It’s like, ‘Wow, we have this guy on our side, nobody else is going to be at this level of granular detail. If we do what he says, we will be successful’.”

“I think it’s easy to buy into what he says because the proof is in the pudding. When you buy into what he says, as hard as the environment is and as hard as he is on you, it breeds success and that is a guarantee.

If you are not already a subscriber then sign up here to listen to this podcast and enjoy unlimited access to The 42.

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