THE CEO OF the IRFU Philip Browne last night revealed that the organisation has already begun the process of finding a replacement for departing Ireland coach Declan Kidney.
Speaking on Off the Ball, Browne also said they had hired “professional consultants” in a further bid to ensure they can find the best man for the job, adding that at the moment, “there aren’t that many world class coaches out there”.
“We’ve had some conversations with professional consultants,” he said.
“As to time frames, these things are hard to predict. We’d like the right person to be put in place sooner rather than later, but the key thing is to put the right person in place.”
In relation to the organisation’s reasons for not offering Kidney a new contract, Browne pointed out that rugby was a “results-oriented business” and suggested Kidney’s team had come up short in that department.
However, he added that several other factors influenced the decision.
“We had to look at the Autumn Internationals, the Six Nations. We had to take account of the injury profile.“We had to look at the dynamic of the coaching structure. We have to look at the profile of the team.
“We have to have an eye on the long-term future. Having weighed up all these things, we decided it was in the best interests of the Irish team that we change the coach at this time.”
Asked if Kidney should have focused more on World Cup planning, even if it had a negative impact on Six Nations performances, Browne rejected this assertion, saying: “We have to remember that, at the moment, our bread and butter in terms of revenue is generated from the Six Nations.”
He also backed Kidney to recover from the setback, saying he has “huge experience” and a considerable “commitment to Irish rugby”.
He continued: “We’d like Declan to continue to be involved in Irish rugby. As to what that role might be, now’s not the time to deal with that – we have to deal with what’s in front of us”.
I’d agree with the above, far too much credence put on the Bath win, who are a second tier English side, nearing third tier. We’ve beaten nothing this season really so far, just been consistent enough to keep winning. The toughest games were probably Munster and Cardiff last week to be honest, and we scraped a win over Bath away.
I do think that if we get a home QF and SF in the Aviva we can go back to Twickers, and anything can happen then, but Toulouse would be faves at the moment in my book, they’ve just got everything.
I’m a little worried about our second row options, Leo seems to be slowing and Browne is not really up to the white heat of a big HEC game I think. Today’s selection should be very interesting.
I certainly don’t fear Sarries or Quins though, Quins in particular have nowhere near the experience needed, and Sarries are one paced.
Agree completely! We seem to have forgotten that we have a relatively soft pool this year! To be anything but well in charge at this stage would be a disaster!
My big worry is what happens when we play a team with a serious pack and a good backline (eg Northampton for H1 of Heino Final). Defensively we leaked a lot of scores in that first half! If you were to have thrown some fitness and an out and out 7 into that Northampton team – what would the result have been? Haven’t forgotten what Clermont did to us in the RDS a couple of years ago (except on the scoreboard of course).