Joe Schmidt returns “home” to Mullingar

International Rugby Coach Joe Schmidt will set aside his devastation following Ireland’s defeat to the All Blacks on Sunday last to return to Mullingar.

He is due to appear at the Mullingar Rugby Club Gathering Dinner Dance in the Greville Arms Hotel this Friday night at 8.30pm.

The former Mullingar player coach from New Zealand spent a couple of seasons in MRFC during the early 1990s.

One-time Leinster coach, Schmidt, is a frequent visitor to Mullingar and infamously said Mullingar people are as important to him, and maybe even moreso, than when he met the President of America, Barack Obama.

“I’m catching up with all the guys . . . who are part of the reason why I’m here in Ireland and why I’m back here in Mullingar.

"We’ve (wife Kelly) still got great friends that we made here 20 years ago,” a beaming Joe Schmidt told the Westmeath Examiner 48 hours after winning the Heineken Cup in 2011.

Limited tickets for Friday’s MRFC Dinner Dance are available from the Greville Arms Hotel on 044 9348563.