The China Mail - Australia boss Schmidt eager to emulate Slack's 'Home Nations' sweep

The 2024 Wallabies are half-way to replicating the clean sweep of wins over the 'Home Nations' -- England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales -- achieved by their predecessors of 40 years ago.

Few gave Schmidt's men much chance when they arrived for a November tour following a Rugby Championship where they lost five out of six games.

But they head into Sunday's match against Scotland at Murrayfield having enjoyed a stunning 42-37 win over England which they followed up with last week's 52-20 rout of Wales.

"Well, I do talk to Andrew Slack a little bit," Schmidt told reporters on Friday after naming his team to play Scotland.

"He was skipper of that side. He's a top man. He remembers well that Grand Slam tour. So, 40 years on, we'd love to emulate it, but we're not trying to emulate it."

He added: "We're just trying to win this weekend and trying to have a good week's training."

Victory in Edinburgh would take Australia a step closer to equalling the record of one of the great Wallaby teams, before a Dublin finale on November 30 that will see former Ireland coach Schmidt facing a team he knows so well.

But the New Zealander is less concerned that another member of that celebrated team in David Campese, who once said "I don't believe we should have a Kiwi coach", has become a fan of his methods now the current Australia team are on the rise.

Following the Wales game, Campese admitted Schmidt was "proving him wrong", even saying the coach's contract should be extended to the 2027 Rugby World Cup -- a tournament Australia will host.

But when it was suggested to Schmidt on Friday he was now making wing great Campese eat his words, he replied: "I don't know what his words were.

"The people I have to win over are the players in front of me," said Schmidt, who took charge of the Wallabies after Eddie Jones oversaw a woeful 2023 World Cup campaign where two-time champions Australia crashed out in the pool stage.

"If they've got confidence in what we're doing with the key behaviours that we're driving, the strategy that we're trying to develop, if they have confidence in it, then hopefully other people, externally, will develop confidence in it."

Australia, however, have been hampered by frozen pitches that have curtailed training sessions this week.

"We haven't been training as often as we would have normally, but it doesn't mean you can't prepare yourself mentally for the hurdle that's coming," added Schmidt.

C.Smith--ThChM