Things began badly for the Leinster coach in his new posting, but the former headmaster never wavered from his lesson plan, writes Gerry Thornley of the Irish Times.
"One of the few drawbacks of living in Clermont-Ferrand was that the golf courses would be closed due to snow in the mountainous Auvergne. Hence, prior to arriving in Dublin last summer, Joe Schmidt warned his wife, Kellie, that he would be playing golf once a week. Since arriving last June, he has played the sum total of nine holes in one visit to Killeen Castle.
"Schmidt can well understand why Vern Cotter is not of a mind to leave Clermont Auvergne, where Cotter drives into the countryside for some shooting. Even though 65,000 people congregated at the Place de Jaude for the Sunday homecoming with the cherished Bouclier de Brennus last June, the town of Clermont-Ferrand has a population of 140,000, and Schmidt too loved the surrounding countryside.
"He’d go into his office on a Sunday morning (he’d already have looked at next week’s opposition a little) and review the previous day’s game as well as look ahead to next week’s. He’d try to be finished by lunchtime, to leave the rest of his day for Kellie and their four young children - Abby, Tim, Ella and Luke.
"Wednesday was a day off, so the morning would be taken up with a French lesson and then go for one of those lunches that only the French do, before sharing in his kids’ sporting activities in the afternoon.
"'I really enjoyed that about French life, just because they take the time to do things, you know?'"
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