FORMER IRELAND INTERNATIONAL scrum-half Tom Tierney has been chosen by the IRFU to succeed Philip Doyle as the head coach of the Irish women’s team.
Tierney has a hard act to follow as under Doyle’s guidance the women’s team won a Grand Slam and made the semi-finals of the World Cup earlier this year.
Tierney was capped eight times for Ireland and was part of the squad for the 1999 Rugby World Cup. Tierney will also be an assistant coach to the Ireland women’s sevens team.
Last season he coached the club international side to wins over their English and Scottish counterparts.
Also, Anthony Eddy has been appointed as the director of Irish sevens and women’s rugby. In the role, Eddy will coach the men’s and women’s sevens teams and also oversee the women’s team while reporting to IRFU performance director David Nucifora.
Eddy was formerly the General Manager of Rugby Sevens at the Australian Rugby Union and was also an assistant coach at the ACT Brumbies and Queensland Reds in Super Rugby. He also has head coaching experience with Australia U20 and Worcester Warriors.
It was also announced that Connacht academy strength and conditioning coach Marian Early will have the same role with the Irish sevens teams and the women’s rugby team.
He’s not as disappointed as some on relation to how far off they are? They are miles off. No offence to Munster but they are an average,though very gutsy and committed side,and they have hammers Leinster twice in a row now. I do agree that they haven’t had any continuity with combinations,especially from 9-13,and hopefully when the likes of OBrien, Healy, Moore, Teo, McFadden etc come back then there will be a big improvement.
I must take the opportunity to praise Matt O’Connor for the huge improvement in Guinness Pro12 teams. Ever since he arrived at Leinster, every other team has greatly improved. Teams, that two years ago were almost brushed aside by Leinster, have now reached the heights that Leinster once inhabited alone.
Treviso have improved, Munster have improved, Edinburgh have improved, Scarlets have improved, Dragons have improved, Zebra have improved, Connacht (brilliant tonight, by the way) have improved..
In fact, they have all improved so much that Leinster has great difficulty taking on any of them.
By extension, Wasps and Harlequins have shown just how brilliant they are too due to you Matt.
I can hardly wait to see how much Castres get better when they arrive at the RDS soon. They will build statues in your image all over the town.
Matt, you have done European rugby a great service. They have all reached and surpassed Leinster this season thanks to your input at Leinster and everywhere else.
Thank you Matt and Happy New year!.
(and also to Mr Caputo, the news paper seller. Your influence on all other teams has been exceptional)