It's BusGate 2.0.
You may remember after the shock opening defeat to Scotland at Murrayfield in the 2017 Six Nations, an irascible Joe Schmidt partly attributed Ireland's slow start to the fact that the team bus was late arriving at the ground, having been re-routed to Murrayfield by Scottish police. In a couple of post-match interviews, Schmidt mentioned that the team bus had arrived eight minutes late.
While he returned to the issue later in the week to clarify that it wasn't an excuse for the Irish defeat, for a planner as obsessive and meticulous as Schmidt, it evidently had a negative effect.
Hopefully, these matters no longer affect this Irish team, because the build-up to this morning's third Test against Australia has been interrupted by the fact that traffic in Sydney was such that the Irish bus turned up fifteen minutes late. Reports claim that it was due to a road closure, with Joe Schmidt reportedly furious with the delay.
Irish team delayed by half and hour getting to Allianz Stadium - apparently due to a road closure. I spoke to Joe Schmidt pre-match - he was filthy about it. #AUSvIRE #wallabies @foxrugby @FOXSportsNews
— Louise Ransome (@LouRansome) June 23, 2018
Gerry Thornley of The Irish Times reports that the delay was owing to a protest.
Apparently the change of route for the Irish team bus was due to a protest. Meant it took 30 minutes and 15 minutes late. My taxi driver did it in 15. Mins you, he did some neat moves and fairly shifted!
— Gerry Thornley (@gerrythornley) June 23, 2018
