After nearly two decades of crossing paths, Australian head coach Joe Schmidt and Argentinean head coach Felipe Contepomi have made it no secret of enjoying each other’s company.
Following the Wallabies loss against the Springboks in Cape Town, Schmidt admitted that he “has a lot of time for Felipe.”
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Both are highly regarded figures within the halls of Leinster Rugby, with Schmidt having also coached against Contepomi while serving as an assistant at Clermont.
With the Australian coach having also coached close friends Mario Ledesma and Gonzalo Quesada, it would be inevitable the two would strike up a friendship.
“I know Felipe well, obviously,” Schmidt told reporters on Thursday.
“We're pretty friendly, and it was a bit like Andy Farrell in the Lions series. It is always tougher to come up against those guys and be coaching.
“They know you well. You know them well. I rate Felipe really highly as a coach, and he's a great bloke.
“I hope the best for him when he plays other teams. Not against us on Saturday, that's for sure.
“I think he's doing a great job with that [Los Pumas] team. I will catch up with Felipe before kick-off and talk about anything except rugby, which is always nice to do.”
Schmidt didn’t hide the fact he expects a strong Pumas side to take the field on Saturday, with the visitors fresh off a famous All Blacks win.
Then there is also the record 67 points the Pumas put on the Wallabies in similarly hot conditions in Sante Fe last year, the last time the two sides met.
“It hurts. It still stings,” Schmidt said of that result.
“You never want to be beaten like that, particularly the last 20 minutes was really where it got right away from us.
“I would have coached against Felipe when he was playing in Toulon when I was at Clermont. So, you know, we go back a long way.
“When Felipe was at Leinster, we would catch up and have coffee… or maybe something else.
“That respect I have for him as a coach and even as a player, that makes me a little bit afraid of what he's got cooked up.”
Speaking earlier in the day, Contepomi was similarly wary of his Australian counterpart.
“I like watching his teams, [but] I don't like playing against his teams,” the Argentine head coach joked.
“He is a brilliant coach, I have loads of time for him. We keep in contact, so for me it's a huge honour to see that he is still around.
“He is so detailed on everything he does. He will bring something, he will have under his sleeve a trick, or two or three. We don't know, that's why we are expecting a really tough game.
“Apart from playing against an Australian team that has very good athletes, they are very well coached. Not only Joe, but [Mike] Cron and [Tom] Donnelly, there are so many good coaches there in the staff, I think they will be very well prepared.
“I have a lot of respect for him and admiration, I have learned a lot from him too.”
While Contepomi will likely embrace the chance to see Schmidt before kick-off, he will be hoping to have his side switched on and ready - with the two match series proving critical in broader World Cup rankings and calculations.
“Sport is a very interesting thing, because for me, the way I see it, I hate losing more than what I love winning,” Contepomi explained.
“For me it's like, it lasts what it lasts, [in] that dressing room. Then I get out of that dressing room, I'm already starting to think about the next job.
“[We] start from zero the following day. Since the Sunday after beating the All Blacks, we started from zero: we are preparing [for] Australia, and we are trying to focus on being our best version.
“We know that Joe is meticulous, he is detailed, and he is going to have something prepared.
“It's going to be a very tough game. We are friends, but for 80 minutes, [we are] intimate enemies.”
