Eddie O'Sullivan to take over at Biarritz

former legend

Wow. That's a big move for him, getting out of Pro d2 will be a nightmare.

http://m.independent.ie/sport/rugby/struggling-biarritz-olympique-swoop-for-eddie-osullivan-30276290.html

OldRio

That is surprising. Good luck to the man.

durkadurka

Delighted for him

umop.episdn

A bit leftfield as all the chatter was of a role in the new Munster setup. Hope he is successful & that Biarritz are promoted

randomname2005

I was wondering what took him to Bilbao last weekend. Could work out well for BOPB as they have a good number followers in the Spanish Basque country and play some of their games in Donostia/San Sebastian.

bilston

Glad to hear it. He deserves a decent role even if Biarritz aren't the force they were.

sydthebeat

Good appointment for biarritz.

Lets see who he brings as his staff..

Buer

GT said on Off The Ball last night that EOS was interviewed for Munster but, to his knowledge, it was far from a sure thing. I can only assume that Biarritz was a solid job offer and he went for that rather than hang around for a job he may not be offered.

thomond2006

Won't be the easiest job to bring Biarritz back to the Top14, their squad will be largely new and competing with more settled sides like La Rochelle. Good challenge for him to sink his teeth into. I'm gutted he won't be coming to Munster.

P_1

Good to see him back in the game. Hopefully he does well but the D2 is looking fairly tough to get out of next season.

bamboozle

Delighted for him.

Ok he's fallen out with some of the big wigs in the IRFU but you only have to look back at some of the rugby we played under him to appreciate how he got the most out of the national backline.

Bit of a poisoned chalice though, they've lost a lot of players, wouldnt be surprised to see him snap up some of the fringe provincial players.

Beautiful part of the world to live, lucky him.

danthefan

bamboozle wrote: »

Delighted for him.

Ok he's fallen out with some of the big wigs in the IRFU but you only have to look back at some of the rugby we played under him to appreciate how he got the most out of the national backline.

Bit of a poisoned chalice though, they've lost a lot of players, wouldnt be surprised to see him snap up some of the fringe provincial players.

Beautiful part of the world to live, lucky him.

Probably be no bad thing.

Hope it works out for him. If they don't go straight back up he's an easy scapegoat.

vienne86

This looks like a great appointment for Biarritz, and a decnt job and challenge for Eddie - I'm delighted for him, though I'll miss him as a punter - I think he is a great analyst. He deserves this. Biarritz has a great tradition of rugby, and hopefully the supporters will get behind the team and coach.

.ak

Big challenge for him, I think the team ethos there is poison and he'll need to fix that first, which is something he doesn't have a good history with.

Swiwi.

sydthebeat wrote: »

Good appointment for biarritz.

Lets see who he brings as his staff..

sydthebeat wrote: »

Good appointment for biarritz.

Lets see who he brings as his staff..

sydthebeat wrote: »

Good appointment for biarritz.

Lets see who he brings as his staff..

To be sure, to be sure, to be sure STB.

Delighted for Eddie. Scott Robertson who used to play for them was in the mix, but decided to continue with ITM rugby coaching. Hopefully he can promote Biarritz

Cookiemunster

From the horses mouth.

Eddie O'Sullivan ‏@TheRealEddieOS 12m

Thank you to everybody for all the good wishes. I'm really looking forward to a new and exciting challenge in Biarritz.

sydthebeat

Swiwi. wrote: »

To be sure, to be sure, to be sure STB.

Delighted for Eddie. Scott Robertson who used to play for them was in the mix, but decided to continue with ITM rugby coaching. Hopefully he can promote Biarritz

damned phone!!!

thanks swiwi, wouldnt have known until you posted

thomond2006

Announced by Biarritz: http://www.bo-pb.com/index.php/saison/actualites/eddie-o-sullivan/27393

Two of EOS' assistant coaches to be confirmed.

stephen_n

Would have liked him at Leinster as backs coach, be very interesting to see how he gets on, hopefully he does well.

CatFromHue

stephen_n wrote: »

Would have liked him at Leinster as backs coach, be very interesting to see how he gets on, hopefully he does well.

A good two year stint with Biarritz would make the possibility of him taking over after MOC not too mad a thought.

Larbre34

CatFromHue wrote: »

A good two year stint with Biarritz would make the possibility of him taking over after MOC not too mad a thought.

:eek: You wha' Gay?

I know Leinster performances are frustrating a lot of us and the coaches are taking a lot of flak for underselling the talent we have with the strategy theyre employing, but lets not loose the run of ourselves.

EOS is a notoriously difficult character, which is not to say other coaches aren't, but he has a chequered history with guys in the Irish and Provincial set ups, and I think we need to be moving forward. If its a case of wanting an Irish coach particularly after O'Connor departs, there are better options.

stephen_n

CatFromHue wrote: »

A good two year stint with Biarritz would make the possibility of him taking over after MOC not too mad a thought.

I'd like him as a backs coach but not sure about him as a head coach, his man management skills seem to be lacking, which is important in the head coaches role.

Neil3030

Managing in France will be a different sac de marteaux for sure. Best of luck to him, hopefully he has picked up his man management game because there's no doubting his ability to make backlines purr.

thomond2006

Biarritz statement also confirmed that EOS turned down Munster.

Robbo

thomond2006 wrote: »

Biarritz statement also confirmed that EOS turned down Munster.

Shorter commute from Moylough to Biarritz in his magical voiture.

Kirk Van Houten

Neil3030 wrote: »

Managing in France will be a different sac de marteaux for sure. Best of luck to him, hopefully he has picked up his man management game because there's no doubting his ability to make backlines purr.

I was always of the opinion that Eddie's team were far too structured. He had fantastic set plays off first and second phase but beyond that the backline actually struggled apart from the odd moment of individual flair.

The one thing Munster were actually missing under Penney/Mannix was that first phase move for the backs but the idea was one of making the player into decision makers not the type of robot rugby players that Eddie wanted in his Ireland prime.

I wish Eddie all the best in France but personally I hope Munster continue down the path they have started under Penney and add a few more set play moves for the backs. I think the use of a 2nd 5/8 as opposed to a big crash ball 12 will be huge in terms of releasing the pace of the back 3 into space.

sydneybound

Does EOS actually speak French? A little different when ROG went out there as he could master the language.

CatFromHue

Larbre34 wrote: »

:eek: You wha' Gay?

I know Leinster performances are frustrating a lot of us and the coaches are taking a lot of flak for underselling the talent we have with the strategy theyre employing, but lets not loose the run of ourselves.

EOS is a notoriously difficult character, which is not to say other coaches aren't, but he has a chequered history with guys in the Irish and Provincial set ups, and I think we need to be moving forward. If its a case of wanting an Irish coach particularly after O'Connor departs, there are better options.

MOC is an Aussie and so it's not too strange to think that he's not going to be here forever. I'm not saying he's going to be fired or anything but he will move on eventually and if EOS is doing the business in France he may want to move home to Ireland. He may not and decide to stay in France too.

cp

Aren't Biarritz basically bankrupt?

This sounds like a really difficult job for him. I remember an article from Martin Gillingham (I think) recently saying that basically Biarritz might never be seen in the TOP14 again: terrible finances, small town, nothing like the level of loyalty among supporters that Bayonne have..

He was basically saying that Biarritz are in real danger of going the way of Narbonne, Colomiers etc, only faster.

Will try to dig it out. Anyways good luck to him. He's a far better coach than many give him credit..

thomond2006

cp wrote: »

Aren't Biarritz basically bankrupt?

This sounds like a really difficult job for him. I remember an article from Martin Gillingham (I think) recently saying that basically Biarritz might never be seen in the TOP14 again: terrible finances, small town, nothing like the level of loyalty among supporters that Bayonne have..

He was basically saying that Biarritz are in real danger of going the way of Narbonne, Colomiers etc, only faster.

Will try to dig it out. Anyways good luck to him. He's a far better coach than many give him credit..

Serge Blanco is very wealthy so unless he pulls his investment then they should be fine financially.

cp

thomond2006 wrote: »

Serge Blanco is very wealthy so unless he pulls his investment then they should be fine financially.

Blanco is the chairman, but I think the money man is Serge Kampf of CAP Gemini..

This article says he had to write a personal cheque for 2 million last year just to keep the show on the road.. And even at that they've been left behind.

http://www.espn.co.uk/france-top-14-2013-14/rugby/story/201573.html

Still looking for that other article. This more recent piece by Martin Gillingham is a good read on the TOP14 finances in general..

http://www.espn.co.uk/france-top-14-2013-14/rugby/story/223641.html

/off-topic

UnitedWeStand

For f***sake. EOS is a talented coach but he doesn't seem to make friends all to easily in organisations. Its no real secret if papers are anything to go by the him and the IRFU aren't close, for whatever reason. Not sure if Munster rejected him or if he rejected Munster - Either way, he should be coaching the damn team not applying for an assistant role. Probably our best coach ever.

thomond2006

He rejected Munster.

Kirk Van Houten

thomond2006 wrote: »

He rejected Munster.

thankfully he did. I don't think his heavily structured coaching routine is best suited to Munster's resources. It may have actually worked better with someone like Downey in the centre who wasn't suited to Penneys vision.

Although he got his nickname during his playing days its very apt for him and I wouldn't trust him as far as ROG could kick him. As the Biarritz decision shows he wants to be a head coach. If he took the backs position at Munster, axel would need to hire someone to watch his back.

UnitedWeStand

Kirk Van Houten wrote: »

thankfully he did. I don't think his heavily structured coaching routine is best suited to Munster's resources. It may have actually worked better with someone like Downey in the centre who wasn't suited to Penneys vision.

Although he got his nickname during his playing days its very apt for him and I wouldn't trust him as far as ROG could kick him. As the Biarritz decision shows he wants to be a head coach. If he took the backs position at Munster, axel would need to hire someone to watch his back.

Not sure I'd want him as a backs coach, purely because I reckon that he'd be sly and would be working his way up to oust the head coach. Shame because as a backs coach he would be awesome. Hopefully he'll get Biarritz a bit of their flair back.

Podge_irl

Kirk Van Houten wrote: »

Although he got his nickname during his playing days its very apt for him and I wouldn't trust him as far as ROG could kick him.

Interesting analogy considering ROG played by far his best rugby at international level under EOS...

CatFromHue

The head coach position in Biarritz is far better for his career than backs coach with Munster. It's his entry to the French market which could lead to other jobs over there after Biarritz.

Going to Munster and his options are limited afterwards really.

phog

Id have taken him as backs coach in Munster but I wish him well in France and I really hope he gets Biarritz back into the Top14

thomond2006 wrote: »

He rejected Munster.

Was he actually offered the Munster job?

CatFromHue wrote: »

The head coach position in Biarritz is far better for his career than backs coach with Munster. It's his entry to the French market which could lead to other jobs over there after Biarritz.

Going to Munster and his options are limited afterwards really.

+ 1

He'd have been mad to turn down a head coach in France for an assistant coach in Ireland.

irishbucsfan

House of Cards is actually loosely based on the life of Eddie O'Sullivan. Not a lot of people know that.

connemara man

So how long till hes French manager :P

It's a good move for him. One upside for Irish players is that any lads who feel they don't have a look in with the provinces might get a deal especially with id say Biarritz unloading players

thomond2006

phog wrote: »

Was he actually offered the Munster job?

Well Biarritz said he turned Munster down, presumably the assistant role.

Le Munster et le BOPB était tous les deux intéressés par le profil de l’ancien entraîneur du XV du Trèfle (2001-2008) et des Etats-Unis. Eddie O’Sullivan a préféré décliner l’offre de la province irlandaise pour relever le défi proposé par Serge Blanco et le BOPB.

phog

thomond2006 wrote: »

Well Biarritz said he turned Munster down, presumably the assistant role.

Le Munster et le BOPB était tous les deux intéressés par le profil de l’ancien entraîneur du XV du Trèfle (2001-2008) et des Etats-Unis. Eddie O’Sullivan a préféré décliner l’offre de la province irlandaise pour relever le défi proposé par Serge Blanco et le BOPB.

Fair play to his agent.

Kirk Van Houten

phog wrote: »

Fair play to his agent.

about time Baker did something. he's put Eddies name in the hat for every job in the last few years bar one or two part time positions in Supermacs in Galway.

CatFromHue

The Indo are reporting that EOS wasn't offered the Munster backs position.

http://www.independent.ie/sport/rugby/eddie-osullivan-has-been-out-of-the-game-for-too-long-odriscoll-30278843.html

Neil3030

CatFromHue wrote: »

The Indo are reporting that EOS wasn't offered the Munster backs position.

http://www.independent.ie/sport/rugby/eddie-osullivan-has-been-out-of-the-game-for-too-long-odriscoll-30278843.html

Hehe, so Biarritz claim in a statement on their official website (http://www.bo-pb.com/) that he was offered the Munster backs coach position, while Munster claim in a statement on their official website (http://www.independent.ie/) that he wasn't! :pac:

thomond2006

I reckon the agent was telling Biarritz a few fibs...

Edit: Or what Ciaran says below!

CIARAN_BOYLE

Neil3030 wrote: »

Hehe, so Biarritz claim in a statement on their official website (http://www.bo-pb.com/) that he was offered the Munster backs coach position, while Munster claim in a statement on their official website (http://www.independent.ie/) that he wasn't! :pac:

Probably he told Biarritz that he is in talks with Munster, which is true, and then when Biarritz offers him the position he informs Munster that he is no longer available essentially rejecting him even though no offer was made.

thomond2006

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

Probably he told Biarritz that he is in talks with Munster, which is true, and then when Biarritz offers him the position he informs Munster that he is no longer available essentially rejecting him even though no offer was made.

That seems likely.

Zzippy

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

Probably he told Biarritz that he is in talks with Munster, which is true, and then when Biarritz offers him the position he informs Munster that he is no longer available essentially rejecting him even though no offer was made.

Or... it looks bad if a guy takes a gig in Pro D2 instead of with us, so we'll just tell everyone "well, we didn't want him anyway"...