OUTGOING IRELAND WOMENS head coach Tom Tierney lamented the disparity of athleticism between Ireland and the world’s best teams as he walked away from the job with an eighth place finish in a home World Cup.
The Limerick man led a squad with high expectations into this tournament, but the limitations of the gameplan and confidence in the skill-set soon became apparent through wins over Australia and Japan before the journey turned sour with losses to France, Australia and, today, Wales.
“I’m very, very proud of the job that I’ve done,” Tierney said after making his way up the stand in the Kingspan stadium.
“Obviously it hasn’t ended the way we’d like, but that’s sport and life and you’ve just got to deal with that.”
Tierney had already accepted that this campaign had been a failure before the build-up to today’s seventh-place play-off was overshadowed by a damning interview given by Ruth O’Reilly to the Irish Times.
The prop, who retired after pulling out of the World Cup through injury, shed light on the problematic preparations in the months leading into this tournament. From O’Reilly’s perspective, what women’s director Anthony Eddy brands the best prepared women’s squad this island has produced, was in fact an extremely disgruntled crop who found themselves shouldering the responsibility for analysis, tactics and gameplan with minimal notice.
Other than expressing disappointment about the timing of the interview, Tierney would not be drawn about the specifics of O’Reilly’s complaints. He has a new coaching role lined up, though he declined to reveal which team will be next under his tutelage.
All signs point to Tierney remaining in an IRFU tracksuit however and he will certainly be in Lansdowne Road to play a part in the review process that will follow this World Cup. The key learning for the former scrum-half is the need to continue unearthing athletes to make an impact for Ireland’s 15-a-aide squad.
“Hindsight’s great and everyone’s brilliant in hindsight, but we’ll take it nice and handy for a few days. Once we’re rested we’ll review it,” said Tierney, who presided over Ireland’s 2015 Six Nations win
“I suppose the glaring thing is the difference in physicality and the physiques compared to other countries (who work) on a larger scale.
I think that’s where Irish women’s rugby has to go. We’re not there yet. We’ve unearthed a number of players. Now it’s about building a player base that’s athletic-based as opposed to anything else.”
“That’s the challenge. Unfortunately, not for me, my time is up, but I had a brilliant time. It’s been an honour to be coach of the Ireland women’s team.
He added: “I’ve always tried to make sure the players come first and all they have to concentrate on is the rugby side of things. I would pride myself as a coach to do that. Unfortunately things didn’t go well on the field for us.
“We have to accept that. We’ll review, we’ll look at the areas and once that review is done by the IRFU then a plan will be put in place. And the plan will be so that we can compete at a World Cup tournament where there are five games over a short space of time with bigger, more athletic teams.”
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Out of his depth. But irfu gave jim the job. Check his cv junior rugby
@Chris Tobin: if you actually check his cv instead of making up false information you would see he coached Garyowen and Cons senior sides as well as Ireland Clubs. His cv is streets ahead of anyone who would want the job.
@John Buckley: had to get Eddie O Sullivan in to Garryowen to help him if I remember correctly
Tierney has some cheek.
Chopping and changing the team every game. Scapegoating players to mask a clueless management approach.
Athletes alone is not what we need. We need women that can execute basic skill under extreme pressure. Women that can identify space and time passes. We need to give these girls the best of coaching, the best of facilities and the best support we can.
There is no lack of effort and fight from our women rugby players. There is a huge lack of support.
Going the bigger is better route is not the answer. Speed of thought and confidence in skill sets and game plan is.
@Ed Byrne: The best coaches bring structure and a game plan to bring the best out of teams. Do you think the team reached their potential? If you don’t then focus needs to be on the background staff, preparations and coach.
Yeah Tierney…Talk up the ladies all tournament then stab them in the back when you’ve got nothing to lose…coward.
@Conor Alexander Lynott: i think its fair in what he said.As a matter of fact Fiona Steed elluded to the same problems after the French game.This team won a six nations ffs.So how do you become that bad in 4 months.My opinion is that the structures in the IRFU and AIL are not good enough.The promoting of the game at grass roots level is not existant,except for a few clubs around the country with good underage structures but thats a few(2 or 3 maybe)Most of these girls sadly have been involved in rugby a very short time.They’re great sportswomen,playing GAA and some representing their country at senior level in basketball but sadly the basic fundamental skills are lacking because of being too naive.As Fiona said in her post match analysis after the French loss.You need funding to provide coaching for all AIL teams to have top coaches working and implementing better structures and putting better players out on the pitch AND more of them in numbers.Hopefully they’ll have a coach in place soon and some players need to decide if their gonna play 7s or 15 player rugby.
@Don O Sullivan: People talk about structures every time the men or women crash out of a world cup. What happens? Nothing? The IRFU put things on the long finger until the media goes by publishing an ‘investigation’ and organising a few press conferences. Result: History repeats itself again and again and again
Hope the old #WorldCup2023 Selection Committee haven’t been watching our plight.
@James Thompson: Why? By all accounts the WRWC was a huge success. Good ticket sales, logistical arrangements etc. Did nothing but help our cause.
“We’ll take it nice and handy for the next few days”
Well good on ya, maybe the sound bites above aren’t reflective of all his comments but the team under performed and Tierney carries the blame for it.
Being harsh, seems like he took it nice and handy throughout the tournament!