Andrew Conway knows the difference. He may have just eight Ireland caps to his credit but Conway spent three seasons at Leinster under the Kiwi’s beady eye. Quite literally, it seems, when it came to working on his fielding of high balls.

“I was shocking in the air at the start,” Conway laughed. “I remember when I started playing for Leinster I would be waiting for Isa (Nacewa). He would know it was coming and he would start moving over from full-back and kind of saying, ‘it’s okay, I’ve got you’.

That was what made me work harder and harder. I remember even in Leinster doing high-ball stuff after training sessions with Joe. Joe is just standing there and you are there waiting under the kick. That’s harder than waiting under a kick in the Aviva or the RDS or wherever it was.

Conway’s overtime wasn’t enough to ensure a long-term future at his home province but the Dubliner has demonstrated a similar work ethic at Munster where he has blossomed after a difficult start to life in the red.

His consistent excellence in the air now is evidence of that.

It’s not something that just clicked - and he was ticked off about one kick that slipped through his hands against Italy in Chicago at the weekend — but his general dependability when collecting balls from the blue has flipped a weakness into a strength.

Like Schmidt, Felix Jones has accompanied Conway in extra drills. For one, the Munster backline and attack coach holds a flag above his head in an attempt to replicate the distracting arms of an approaching opponent.

Jones, in more ways than one, has been a guiding light.

“100%. He paved the path by going down to Munster when he was pretty young. I did it when I was 21. You are seeing more people doing it across the board, go up north, go out west. Felix, as a person and as a rugby player, was someone you’d try and work as hard as him.

“You’re not going to be able to do it. He just had this incredible work ethic. He was able to go further and further and push himself and bring that. He does that with his coaching. It is an unbelievable asset for me to have that.” As with Munster, it took time for Conway’s Ireland career to take off but he has impressed with the five starts and three appearances off the bench since making his debut against England as a replacement in the 2017 Six Nations.

It seemed as if his time had come last November with a try against South Africa from the wing, a start at full-back against Fiji, and a cameo against Argentina but injury excluded him from the Six Nations and did for him again after scoring against Australia in the second summer test.

He’s been long enough in the game to know that such misfortune is intrinsic to the job and it could yet be that Rob Kearney’s ongoing shoulder problem clears the way for him to start at 15 for his country for just the third time.

He insists that he is ready, even if the stakes are raised.

“Yeah, of course. There is more pressure. It is an international game, it is a different ball game, as you know, just that step up from European rugby. The margin for error is smaller, the margin for you doing absolutely everything you can is probably more ... there is more of a microscope on you.

It’s a tougher environment to be in but that’s what brings the best out of players. You would see the guys who are in here and playing consistently thrive under that pressure and don’t mind that feeling of Joe looking over you.

“Because you know out on the pitch that if you don’t get up off the ground and you don’t put in that extra effort, that you will be seen because everything is watched like a hawk. I’ve been in and around this environment now and I am pretty comfortable.

“So it would be great to get that opportunity, obviously.”