As any number of people will tell you, appendicitis can be bloody painful. None of those people are Joe Schmidt. Despite his notoriously demanding nature, the first sense you get from any of his players is that they would run through walls for him. As if we didn't already, now we really know why.
A statement from the IRFU confirmed that Schmidt was taken to St Vincent's Hospital in the aftermath of yesterday's victory suffering from appendicitis. He later had the appendix removed and we can only imagine he has donated it to science so that future generations can learn something from what he is made of.
Following yesterday's game against Australia, Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt was assessed by the match day doctors and was sent to St. Vincent's Hospital for further assessment. On Saturday night Joe had his appendix removed and is recovering well this morning.
He would like to thank the doctors and nurses of St. Vincent's Hospital and everyone for their well wishes and kind messages of support.
Wake up with appendicitis, set-up your team to beat Australia, watch your team beat Australia, conduct a perfectly calm post match interview and head off to St. Vincent's to undergo an appendectomy. All in a days work for Joe.
Has anyone ever been this calm and willing to analyse a rugby match while requiring major surgery?
