DUBLIN (Reuters) – When Ireland coach Joe Schmidt spoke at a behind closed doors event earlier this year, discussing his management style with a small audience, one participant diligently took notes to fill in any absentees.

The subsequent email quickly went viral as fans shared a fascinating insight into the attention to detail, precision and occasionally quirky methods that has Brian O’Driscoll in no doubt that Schmidt is the best coach he has played for.

On Sunday, Schmidt led Ireland to just their second Six Nations title in 29 years with a heart-stopping victory in France. For those who have played under the New Zealander, it was no surprise that his first campaign in charge of the national team ended on such a high.

“Often the game can be complicated too much but Joe really focuses on the things that make a difference, often the simple things and then he just demands excellence and that’s how he is every single day. He never lets up,” former Leinster back Isa Nacewa told Reuters in an interview.

“It’s about setting a standard and not falling below that whether you’re a first year academy player or if you’ve been there for 16 years. He’s created the environment where you don’t want to dip below that, and that’s pretty powerful.”

Schmidt, a former school headmaster who briefly played and coached in the Irish lower leagues in the 1990s, led Leinster to two Heineken Cups in three seasons prior to taking over the national team, famously telling the province’s storied players that he wanted to turn them into best passing team in Europe.

Fellow Kiwi Nacewa said that even though the likes of O’Driscoll and Gordon D’Arcy had been passing the ball pretty well for years, the emphasis put on the smallest degrees in a pass that can make or ruin a move was a revelation.

Schmidt also brought a tradition from his time at Clermont Auvergne that every day, players shake hands when they see each other for the first time, whether they were a Grand Slam winner or an academy novice. It made a massive difference, Nacewa said.

PREPARATION LEGENDARY

Despite using the change of pace of international rugby to spend more time with his young son who suffers from epilepsy, it is Schmidt’s preparation that has almost become a thing of legend, how hours are poured over video footage as soon as a game is over so any play can be picked apart the next day.

“It makes me laugh,” Nacewa, who also played under Schmidt at the Auckland Blues, said of the hours spent analysing. “I think it’s more like five or six hours plus a few more games!”

“It’s his way of coaching. He knows the game inside out but then he needs to review a game inside out. Come Monday morning, you think you know what you’re talking about but he’s looked at it from all four angles and probably has a better idea.”

Schmidt’s mark was all over Saturday’s 22-20 victory that was Ireland’s second win in Paris in 42 years, from the precise execution of their tries to captain Paul O’Connell’s disappointment at how they didn’t close the game out better.

If anyone personifies the new found confidence and control, it is wing Andrew Trimble. In and out of the side for years and not involved when Ireland nearly upset New Zealand in November, he was the best player on the park on Saturday.

Having wrestled the jersey from British and Irish Lions wingers Tommy Bowe and Simon Zebo, Trimble said he had learned an unbelievable amount from Schmidt over the last eight weeks.

For Irish fans, whose admiration for Schmidt has grown by the day, the only fear is that his native New Zealand may come knocking sooner or later.

Nacewa, who was similarly adored by Leinster fans and got a stirring farewell before returning home to New Zealand last year, said Schmidt has been made to feel just as welcome.

There is little doubt, however, that he could move onto bigger things.

“For guys like Dricco (O’Driscoll), Darce (D’Arcy) and Shaggy (Shane Horgan) to be challenged so much after Joe arriving so late in their careers and then to learn so much from him, just shows you what kind of coach he is,” he said.

“He’s hands down good enough to coach anywhere in the world, and definitely here in New Zealand but Joe never plans like that. He’ll give his heart and soul to making Ireland succeed over the next couple of years.”

(Editing by Josh Reich)