THE NEWS that the troubled Auckland Blues will advertise for a new head coach next season has invariably led to speculation linking their one-time assistant, Joe Schmidt, with a return there but the Leinster coach is committed to remaining at Leinster, where he still has another year on his current contract.
Schmidt enjoyed three productive seasons as assistant/attacking coach with the Blues, culminating in them reaching the semi-finals in 2007 before he decamped for three seasons to Clermont under Vern Cotter, which culminated in them winning their first bouclier de brennus.
Last season, his first as a head coach of professional team, saw him guide Leinster to the Heineken Cup and the final of the League, and tomorrow they host Glasgow in an effort to reach both finals for the second season running. Having signed a three-year deal with Leinster, and despite his frustrations with the IRFU’s proposed additional restrictions on overseas’ players, he has no intention of leaving before then.
Meanwhile, the Ulster and Scottish winger Simon Danielli has decided to retire from rugby due to a back injury which has plagued him throughout this last season. Danielli joined Ulster at the start of the 2007/08 season from the Borders and has subsequently been capped 78 times by Ulster, scoring 26 tries.
He won the first of his 32 caps when making his debut for Scotland against Italy in 2003, ahead of the World Cup, going on to score eight tries for his country and playing in two World Cups.
“Having been advised that I am no longer able to achieve the level of fitness required to play professional rugby, It is with great sadness that I announce my retirement from the game. I feel privileged to have been playing for over a decade and have thoroughly enjoyed my time as a professional rugby player, particularly my last five years here at Ulster”
“I would like to thank everyone who has helped me throughout my time here, to all the players, coaches, other members of staff and not least the fantastic supporters at Ulster that rival anywhere else in Europe, creating an atmosphere that has given me many special lifelong memories”
“I wish the boys the very best of luck for the biggest of games next week and long into the future. The club is well on the path to becoming a leading force in European rugby and I will be in the stands cheering them towards this for years to come.”
Scrumhalf Danny Care was recalled by England yesterday after giving up alcohol following a string of drink-related incidents that put his international future in doubt. Care, expelled from the Six Nations squad in January for drink driving and arrested two months later after a night out in Leeds, was named in England coach Stuart Lancasters 42-man squad to tour South Africa next month.
The drink-driving arrest, which resulted in a 16-month driving ban, was his second in three weeks after he was fined for being drunk and disorderly. Care (25) admitted he had endured a difficult six months and has given up alcohol in an effort to mend his ways.
