Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt is no stranger to pressure in Dublin. In his first season as a professional head coach with Leinster, the team lost three of its first four league matches.

Former Ireland and British and Irish Lions captain Brian O’Driscoll, who made 186 appearances over 15 years for Leinster, saw up close the criticism Schmidt was forced to endure.

“The papers start doing their comparison of Joe’s record and those of his predecessors, the subtext being that this guy’s a joke, a mistake, and he won’t last ... I know the tide will turn, and it does,” O’Driscoll wrote in his autobiography.

Schmidt had taken over at Leinster from Michael Cheika, the future Wallabies coach who delivered the team’s first European Cup in 2009. He went on to lead Leinster to European honours in 2011

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