Joe Schmidt rules himself out of All Black job

Cape Town - Ireland coach Joe Schmidt has ruled himself out of the running to be the next coach of the All Blacks.

Schmidt is in the final year of his contract with Ireland, who he will coach until the end of this year's World Cup in Japan. 

Steve Hansen, meanwhile, will also be stepping down as All Blacks coach at the end of the tournament.

Born in New Zealand and one of the most highly-rated coaches on the planet, Schmidt has naturally been linked with a return to his home country and the biggest job in world rugby. 

But, according to The Independent, Schmidt is not interested in coaching the All Blacks after the World Cup, saying he wants a year away from the game. 

"That is certainly the short-term plan, to not be involved in coaching," Schmidt said at the launch of the 2019 Six Nations.

"Certainly not for 12 months and I’d say quite likely longer than that. We have a couple of family-related projects that we want to work our way through. I don’t spend a lot of time at home already, so it’s probably high time I did."