Who should the IRFU recruit as the next Ireland coach ?

Almaviva

The IRFU surely doing its homework on potential candidates to be the new Ireland coach after the 6 Nations.


Conor O'Shea seems to be the only Irish coach in a serious post these days. Nice guy, good TV pundit, smart, gaining experience in a tough league. But too little track record at this stage to make him worth a punt. One to watch for the future though.

Michael Bradley seems to have fallen out of their favour a long time ago.

So more than likely it will be overseas. And thats a good thing I think, where a coach is likely to bring something new to players who have come through the Irish schools and academy system.

So who should be on their interview list ?

liammur

Almaviva wrote: »

The IRFU surely doing its homework on potential candidates to be the new Ireland coach after the 6 Nations.


Conor O'Shea seems to be the only Irish coach in a serious post these days. Nice guy, good TV pundit, smart, gaining experience in a tough league. But too little track record at this stage to make him worth a punt. One to watch for the future though.

Michael Bradley seems to have fallen out of their favour a long time ago.

So more than likely it will be overseas. And thats a good thing I think, where a coach is likely to bring something new to players who have come through the Irish schools and academy system.

So who should be on their interview list ?

Maybe keep Kidney for another 2 years, then get Conor O Shea in, assuming he wants it.

tolosenc

Nick Mallett?

B0X

Keclan Didney 2014

who_me

Who we get depends a lot on this year's results. If the 6N goes well, we might not be looking at a new coach for a couple more years, so it depends on who's available then. If it goes badly, we could be looking straight away.

I like liammur's suggestion above. Ideally we've a great 6N, Kidney stays on a couple more years and O'Shea has a chance to prove his credentials over a longer time period.

seanm92

Almaviva wrote: »

Conor O'Shea seems to be the only Irish coach in a serious post these days.

Mark McCall? That's not to say I think McCall should get the job. Conor O'Shea would be my ideal candidate for the job but he seems settled in London and I don't see him leaving that post anytime soon. Schmidt would be my second choice but based on articles I've read it looks as though he may rather a move back to NZ. After that John Kirwan or Mallett, Kirwan's just taken up the Blues job so is effectively ruled out.

ArmaniJeanss

Kidney could plausibly have another 12/15 years, so its probably a bit moot to be talking about the experience/record of names now.

CGD

Joe Schmidt

Podge_irl

Working under the assumption that Kidney is gone...

I don't think COS or Schmidt will be available. McCall seems to be doing quite well with Sarries (though I'm not a massive fan of their style of rugby). Given all 4 provinces have foreign coaches the IRFU might be inclined to go with an Irish coach but I don't really see anyone who could conceivably do it.

[Jackass]

1/ Joe Schmidt
2/ Warrenn Gatland
3/ Graham Henry
4/ Conor O'Shea
5/ Nick Mallet
6/ Vern Cotter
7/ Jake White
8/ Mike Ruddock
9/ Michael Cheika
10/ Eric Elwood
11/ Eddie O'Sullivan (!!)
12/ Kurt McQuicklan
13/ Matt Williams
14/ Clive Woodward
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1496/ Renew Kidneys contract

Hagz

Mike Ruddock has done wonders with the u20's and Lansdowne are on fire at the moment. I'm not saying I'd like him to take over, but I'd be happy to see him take on an inter-rim role if it's needed.

CatFromHue

I don't know to be honest.

There's alot of names knocking around of people I wouldn't want to get it and people who wouldn't be interested in it.

I can't see Conor O'Shea wanting to leave Quins anytime soon either. He only started with them in March 2010 so is still relatively new to that job.

I can see Kidneys contract being extended due to the lack of quality alternatives out there to be honest, assuming we have a good 6N.

Edit: This is one of the problems with having so few indigenous coaches in the provinces. There's no one to promote to the Irish job!

Elwood is the only one at the moment and he's stepping down this season. The next in line chronologically would be Schmidt but it looks like he wants to move back to NZ.

tolosenc

[Jackass] wrote: »

1496/ Renew Kidneys contract

You're mad to even accept that as a remote possibility. It should not happen under any circumstance.

Dear IRFU, if it comes to that, I'll do the job. For free. Promise.

duckysauce

tolosenc wrote: »

You're mad to even accept that as a remote possibility. It should not happen under any circumstance.

Dear IRFU, if it comes to that, I'll do the job. For free. Promise.

Gatty at two is mad aswell alot of bad blood there

opinionatedfan

i'm in favour of bring O'Shea back here in any role, either replacing Schmidt at Leinster or replacing Kidney or becoming the overseer of all irish rugby(high performance director)

The man needs to be utilized by Irish rugby, look at the benefits english rugby have gotten from him being at quins

Robbo

I think one thing that the recent Connacht recruitment process showed is that commuting distance is key. Add to that Eddie O'Sullivan's ability to cover not only newspapers but distances with alacrity...


Otherwise:

tolosenc

tolosenc wrote: »

You're mad to even accept that as a remote possibility. It should not happen under any circumstance.

Dear IRFU, if it comes to that, I'll do the job. For free. Promise.

If (and I know it's a big if) we play the rest of the 6 nations the way we have the last 2 games I would be happy enough to consider giveing him a 1 year extension

Cosmo Kramer

Joe Schmidt is the only realistic candidate at the moment. Why wouldn't he be available?

Ireland>>>>>>>>>>>>Leinster in terms of importance.

leonidas83

Marc Lievremont

2010 - Six Nations/Grand Slam Winners
2011 - World cup runners up
2011 - Six Nations runners up

France have looked a shambles since he left. Finished fourth last year in the six nations, pathetic performance against Italy last Sunday. He deserves more credit than he got for getting anything out of that group of players

Dravokivich

Cosmo Kramer wrote: »

Joe Schmidt is the only realistic candidate at the moment. Why wouldn't he be available?

Ireland>>>>>>>>>>>>Leinster in terms of importance.

Next season is his last with Leinster, after that he's plans to head to NZ.

No point getting a coach in for 1 season and cutting a province short at the same time.

Theta

Dravokivich wrote: »

Next season is his last with Leinster, after that he's plans to head to NZ.

No point getting a coach in for 1 season and cutting a province short at the same time.

I thought I read he said it depends on where his son decides to go to uni, he could decide he wants to go here? Maybe we should start a campaign to get his son in wherever he wants.

Dravokivich

Theta wrote: »

I thought I read he said it depends on where his son decides to go to uni, he could decide he wants to go here? Maybe we should start a campaign to get his son in wherever he wants.

There was another thing he is constantly considering which he mentioned during an interview session with the OLSC earlier in September that is an overall determining factor for him. He's never mentioned it publically, so not going to discuss it openly here. But it'll be the reason he only extended by a year.

opinionatedfan

Dravokivich wrote: »

There was another thing he is constantly considering which he mentioned during an interview session with the OLSC earlier in September that is an overall determining factor for him. He's never mentioned it publically, so not going to discuss it openly here. But it'll be the reason he only extended by a year.

well thats quite the tease.

.ak

I honestly can't see him staying in Ireland, but if he is to be swayed by the head coach job with Ireland he should be offered it - best coach to ever grace our shores imo.

Dravokivich

opinionatedfan wrote: »

well thats quite the tease.

It's not a teaser regarding potential career prospects.

peterako

George Hook..... (Runs for cover....)

chippers

leonidas83 wrote: »

Marc Lievremont

2010 - Six Nations/Grand Slam Winners
2011 - World cup runners up
2011 - Six Nations runners up

France have looked a shambles since he left. Finished fourth last year in the six nations, pathetic performance against Italy last Sunday. He deserves more credit than he got for getting anything out of that group of players

Has he not taken a step away from rugby? Think he set up a restaurant with his brother

Gambas

Almaviva wrote: »

Conor O'Shea seems to be the only Irish coach in a serious post these days. Nice guy, good TV pundit, smart, gaining experience in a tough league. But too little track record at this stage to make him worth a punt. One to watch for the future though.

McCall, Easterby, Elwood and O'Shea is the full list of Irish HEC coaches IIRC.

O'Shea is over-qualified for the position IMO. Doesn't need it, and wouldn't want it is my guess. It'll be a furriner.

jacothelad

Gambas wrote: »

McCall, Easterby, Elwood and O'Shea is the full list of Irish HEC coaches IIRC.

O'Shea is over-qualified for the position IMO. Doesn't need it, and wouldn't want it is my guess. It'll be a furriner.

You've left one out........Remember the uproar when Ulster replaced McLaughlin. He's available. ;);)

Gambas

jacothelad wrote: »

You've left one out........Remember the uproar when Ulster replaced McLaughlin. He's available. ;);)

True, even if I did mean this season. But I did leave Bradley out too. My bad.

jacothelad

Gambas wrote: »

True, even if I did mean this season. But I did leave Bradley out too. My bad.

Your good.

SebBerkovich

peterako wrote: »

George Hook..... (Runs for cover....)

I'm all for this, just to hear him argue with himself about the terrible choices he made when picking the squad...

"ShmurRRRR WHAT... was i thinking putting Mike Ross as 13, it's MAAAAD!"

[Jackass]

In all honesty though, I think Kidney will be kept on no matter what and even if he isn't, it'll be a union boy who'll tow the line, ala Bradley, Elwood maybe Ruddock or McLaughlin as an outside bet.... then you're getting into FAI territory, where they'll extend Kidneys contract for 2 years and be deputised by Foley with a view to taking over after or something stupid.

Don't worry lads, the status quo will remain the same, even if it's a different stooge to get angry with.

CatFromHue

I can't see Elwood wanting the job if he was offered it.
Bradley has a job.....for the moment anyway. I can't see him being offered it though.
Ruddock maybe as he has coached internationally before but he is out of the game awhile for top level coaching.
McLaughlin I doubt as he's only the one top level coaching position at Ulster behind him, and even that was only for three years.

If Kidney isn't kept on I've no idea who will take over. I'd guess a relatively unknown person like Vern Cotter maybe.

I can't see it being an Irish man though.

This is the problem with having so many foreign coaches in the provinces, we can't promote from within.

spiralism

O'Shea is a good option. Obviously Schmidt blows any other candidate out of the water but he'd have to be swayed and there's no point screwing Leinster out of a coach like Joe for the sake of one season. If he could be talked into it though, watch out.

That said, this weekend's game will decide the immediate future of the Kidney regime. Real turning point feel to it, if we put in one of those performances a la AUS 11, Argentina and NZ(second time) last year and the first 45 mins of the Wales game in, we're in with a great shout of a championship and you'd have to feel he'd be extended, whether right or wrong.

[Jackass]

CatFromHue wrote: »

I can't see Elwood wanting the job if he was offered it.
Bradley has a job.....for the moment anyway. I can't see him being offered it though.
Ruddock maybe as he has coached internationally before but he is out of the game awhile for top level coaching.
McLaughlin I doubt as he's only the one top level coaching position at Ulster behind him, and even that was only for three years.

If Kidney isn't kept on I've no idea who will take over. I'd guess a relatively unknown person like Vern Cotter maybe.

I can't see it being an Irish man though.

This is the problem with having so many foreign coaches in the provinces, we can't promote from within.

I don't think they'll go outside of Ireland. They've done that before and didn't like it. They want a yes man who has called them sir for the last few decades, and once Gatland was in there (and doing a superb job) but wasn't someone who grovelled and presumably talked up about him being in charge, not the union, they got rid of him with a yes man (O'Sullivan) and replaced him with another.

Vern Cotter would be a superb appointment in my opinion, he's turned Clermont around since being at the helm, bringing them to being one of the best sides in Europe for the last number of years, and will more than likely be a Heineken Cup winning coach at the end of the season. There's absolutely no way he'd take the job though imo.

IMO Gatland is the best coach in Europe and may be available after the Lions. I'd love to see him come back, but my guess is I'd sooner see hell freeze over.

CatFromHue

Conor O'Shea is only 42 and is in only his third year coaching Quins.

I can't see him being interested in the Ireland job yet. In 5 or 10 years then I think he'd be all right just not now.

CatFromHue

[Jackass] wrote: »

I don't think they'll go outside of Ireland. They've done that before and didn't like it. They want a yes man who has called them sir for the last few decades, and once Gatland was in there (and doing a superb job) but wasn't someone who grovelled and presumably talked up about him being in charge, not the union, they got rid of him with a yes man (O'Sullivan) and replaced him with another.

Vern Cotter would be a superb appointment in my opinion, he's turned Clermont around since being at the helm, bringing them to being one of the best sides in Europe for the last number of years, and will more than likely be a Heineken Cup winning coach at the end of the season. There's absolutely no way he'd take the job though imo.

IMO Gatland is the best coach in Europe and may be available after the Lions. I'd love to see him come back, but my guess is I'd sooner see hell freeze over.

Are you going to apply then :pac:

Gatland wasn't doing a superb job either. He was doing a good job but it could have been better. Some of the players have come out and said that he had a relatively simplistic game plan whereas EOS was more technical. Gatland I think got the team turned around all right but he wasn't shafted out of a job. He was a very different coach then (Glaswegians, Connacht, Ireland) than he is now (Waikato, Wasps, Wales).

I'd like him, Gatland, to come back too but I've a feeling he'll really want to get a job in NZ when he's finished with Wales.

jm08

It looks to me as if Les Kiss is being groomed to be the next Irish coach and probably Kidney the new IRFU Director of Rugby.

Kidney is, for want of a better description, the CEO of the organisation. He is the head and those executives under him – the various coaches – report to him. There is no official tiered structure to the coaching team as such.

Les Kiss, though, is the one who communicates the plans to the players on the training field. His is the voice the players hear during the on-field sessions more than most.

Gert Smal was recruited along with Kiss and Alan Gaffney when Kidney assumed the head coach position.

"When the coaches come up with various strategies, Les puts it into action in the training field. All the coaches have their input and they all communicate with the players when detailing their specific areas of responsibility," added Kearney.

http://www.independent.ie/sport/rugby/six-nations/irish-news/team-boss-praises-master-planner-kidney-29051744.html

jm08

CatFromHue wrote: »

Are you going to apply then :pac:

Gatland wasn't doing a superb job either. He was doing a good job but it could have been better. Some of the players have come out and said that he had a relatively simplistic game plan whereas EOS was more technical. Gatland I think got the team turned around all right but he wasn't shafted out of a job. He was a very different coach then (Glaswegians, Connacht, Ireland) than he is now (Waikato, Wasps, Wales).

I'd like him, Gatland, to come back too but I've a feeling he'll really want to get a job in NZ when he's finished with Wales.

Correct - there was a bit of a player revolt led by Woody - more to get O'Sullivan in, rather than Gatland out though to be fair.

Lots of people say that not being retained by Ireland was the making of Gatland - he is a far better coach now than he was then.

tolosenc

[Jackass] wrote: »

Vern Cotter would be a superb appointment in my opinion, he's turned Clermont around since being at the helm, bringing them to being one of the best sides in Europe for the last number of years, and will more than likely be a Heineken Cup winning coach at the end of the season. There's absolutely no way he'd take the job though imo.

Plus he wouldn't have untold millions to splash on SH semi-retirees to build depth...

Sandwlch

tolosenc wrote: »

Plus he wouldn't have untold millions to splash on SH semi-retirees to build depth...

No problem. We will have plenty of Irish semi-retirees available to him : O'Driscoll, O'Gara, Reddan, Wallace, Darcy, O'Connell, Boss, McCarthy, O'Callaghan....

[Jackass]

tolosenc wrote: »

Plus he wouldn't have untold millions to splash on SH semi-retirees to build depth...

Yeah it's a fair point, but at the same time it's not all about budgets. I mean Toulon have spent massively too on even bigger names and haven't done as well and the Ospreys had the guts of a Grand Slam winning team and could barely top the PRO12. (their two most recent wins coming from second place, as we all know too well).

He might have an advantage in getting great players, but its how he gets them to play that counts, and I think between Leinster and Clermont over the last few seasons, they've been two of the most complete sides in Heineken Cup history in terms of how they played - I think Cotter can take a lot of credit for that.

I'm not sayig I know enough about him to say he'd be brilliant, but I'd certainly be excited to find out.

Fez101

CatFromHue wrote: »

Conor O'Shea is only 42 and is in only his third year coaching Quins.

I can't see him being interested in the Ireland job yet. In 5 or 10 years then I think he'd be all right just not now.

He was director of rugby at London Irish so has quite a bit of experince already, but as others point out he'll probably want a few more years with the Quins, they have quite a few trophies in them. That said if I was the RFU I'd be using some of the money not being spent on Sexton to bring him back, he's doing far too good a job bringing young English talent through and he's spent so long away from Ireland that he won't bring much if any provencial bagage with him.

andrewdcs

Phillipe St Andre should be available end of the 6N I hear...

andrewdcs

Really should be O'Shea. IF we could get him.

Fez101

We're 2 1/2 years out from the next world cup and its a Lions summer so the Irish summer tour isn't great preparation for any new coach. I'd like to have seen 2 tests against Canada followed by a one off in Argentina, that really would have been great preparation for a young team, yes we'd lose in Argentina with a weakened team, but young players would learn alot. It would have been better to replace DK after last yeasr 6 nations, be we are were we are, maybe its just better to give DK 2 more years and get O'Shea in 2015?

Almaviva

andrewdcs wrote: »

Really should be O'Shea. IF we could get him.

Why ? We know him as a good player and pundit, but has he really the coaching CV that deserves a go as national coach ? If he werent Irish would you be saying the same ?

irishbucsfan

Almaviva wrote: »

Why ? We know him as a good player and pundit, but has he really the coaching CV that deserves a go as national coach ? If he werent Irish would you be saying the same ?

Very highly rated at LI, won an Amlin and Premiership with Quins and now has them 1st seeds in the H Cup. Let's remember where they were when he took over.

If we don't grab him, England will (given his RFU links).

I don't see anyone better that we could attract.

its_phil

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Very highly rated at LI, won an Amlin and Premiership with Quins and now has them 1st seeds in the H Cup. Let's remember where they were when he took over.

If we don't grab him, England will (given his RFU links).

I don't see anyone better that we could attract.

Won the Anglo-Welsh cup at LI too. It was a big deal back then IIRC.

Almaviva

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Very highly rated at LI, won an Amlin and Premiership with Quins and now has them 1st seeds in the H Cup. Let's remember where they were when he took over.

If we don't grab him, England will (given his RFU links).

I don't see anyone better that we could attract.

Maybe so.
But just wondering is he in the reckoning just because he is Irish. Best man for the job should be our only criteria. We dont seem to consider any English candidates for example. It seems to be either Irish, if it can be justified at all, or if not, then its got to be southern hemisphere.