Australia’s part in creating the Irish rugby monster

“I think it would be great for Australian rugby [if Schmidt stayed longer],” Fisher said. “He’s a class act and he’s making a huge difference.

“But he’s got other things, and he’ll make decisions around whatever’s happening in his life. Whichever way it goes, I wish him all the best, but in the short period he’s been here, I think he’s made an enormous change for the better.”

Asked specifically what makes Schmidt so special as a coach, Fisher points to a relentless work ethic.

“He’s got an insane amount of knowledge about all aspects of the game, he’s got a great manner with his staff and the players,” Fisher said. “He’s got a great eye for detail on the pitch and that’s something we’re all chasing to be better as he sees things in the moment, which is what makes him a better coach than most.”

Both Fisher and Schmidt are back on relatively familiar ground in Ireland.

O’Connell will be studying the tape of the Wallabies’ defeat against Scotland, with 34 missed tackles and 14 penalties providing a significant challenge for Fisher and his coaching team.

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“We tackled at 86 per cent in the first half which is a pretty solid day out, but we definitely fell off in the second half,” Fisher said. “A little bit about that is that it wasn’t a big ball-in-play game, but we had a couple of long passages in D [defence].

“It was one of those days where we just weren’t smooth and connected in what we were doing, then you had guys jumping out of the line trying to make a difference and that just creates opportunities either side of them. We lost a little bit of our composure…we didn’t play well enough, we didn’t execute our attack as smoothly, they defended exceptionally well, shut us down, so you’ve got to give credit to the Scots in how they played.”

On Saturday, apart from O’Connell, Fisher is likely to bump into even more Irish friends and former colleagues. Ireland halfback Conor Murray and breakaway Peter O’Mahony began their careers at Munster working with Fisher, and winger Mack Hansen played under him at the ACT Brumbies.

Hansen ultimately moved to Ireland with Connacht and Fisher has been delighted to see the success of a man he describes as a “free spirit”.

“He was at the Brumbies with us, and we would have loved to have kept him, but he had got the opportunity over here, ” Fisher said.

“And he’s shown what capacity he’s had, and I think he just had the freedom to play and be himself over here [in Ireland], and maybe felt that it was a bit more of a straitjacket on at home.

“And because he’s a free spirit, a wonderfully talented player and given the right environment, he’s shown what he’s capable of producing, definitely one that got away”