LoL! I dont think you will see deccie in AIL even with Con. If irfu or munster dont have a role for him he will take the durector of sport offer from UCC. Its sad really whats happening to EOS but its of his own making by all accounts. Hes supposed to be a very good backs coach if he cud get along with other coaches.

I disagree I could see Kidney taking on a role at UCC as a Director of Rugby or something of that nature like 'consultant'. Would be senseless of UCC not to use him in some capacity while he's there on campus.

LoL! I dont think you will see deccie in AIL even with Con. If irfu or munster dont have a role for him he will take the durector of sport offer from UCC. Its sad really whats happening to EOS but its of his own making by all accounts. Hes supposed to be a very good backs coach if he cud get along with other coaches.

EOS is allegedly in talks to join a AIL team next year in some capacity. To be frank it's something he should have done last year and a AIL team would make a better stepping stone than Connacht.

It's a win-win situation for everyone involved. EOS makes himself more employable. Irish rugby brings a guy with strong technical knowledge back into the fold, some young players will get the benefit of his coaching and a AIL team will get an experienced coach with International experience. Can see Kidney doing the same with UCC in the near future as well.

I wish Kidney the best going forward. He did well taking over for EOS going that one step further for the GS. Unfortunately the "golden generation" of Irish rugby reached its end during his tenure and perhaps he rode them longer than was acceptable, but I'm not sure he can be held solely responsible for not finding their adequate replacements. I do agree it's time for a change, I don't expect Kidney to have a difficult time finding new employment like EOS.

As for Kiss taking charge of the NA tour I see no problem. He probably is an outside candidate for the job and it will essentially be an A tour with some going with the Lions and others being given a rest. I can see only a sprinkling of front liners going to insure that Ireland do not suffer greater embarrassment by losing to either Canada or the USA. If POC is left out of the Lions I could maybe see him going since he's played so little rugby this season.

I'd rather see the IRFU takes its time to get this hiring right than rush someone in just to take charge of the NA tour.

Whiff of Cordite had an interesting article on Kidney leaving and who might replace him. As he pointed out if Deans wins the Lions series McKenzie will probably come to us but if Deans loses he'll be fired and we could swoop in and grab him as McKenzie will probably be his replacement. Dean's is a manager I rate highly and would love to see come north.

Rumours had been circulating during the 6 Nations that Kiss was interested in head coach position. It could be good for Connacht to have him there, if only for Summer internationals, as he's expressed a lot of interest in our indigenous players!

Kidney, came in on the back of EOS things could only go up, had a GS pretty much straight off the bat. Hasn't done much as a head coach since. Never fed through the younger players and when the injury crisis hit this year he had no "go to" because he had to recruit from scratch. We had a diabolical season, in part thanks to Kidney and the fact that he refused to move from the GS Dream Team.

Truth is, the dream team is getting ready to retire. I'd be fairly sure that the majority of that GS team won't make the next World Cup and we have to start from scratch. I pity the coach who has to come in after that season.

But in saying that, having watched the provinces this season, we shouldn't be stuck in a rut with this new coach as long as his eyes are kept open! There is more than enough promising talent there, it just needs to be brought through before the "legends" retire and we're stuck worse than we were this season!

Thank you to Declan Kidney for all the hard work. A gentleman who always gave his all to his job. I feel sorry for him but his time had come. Best of luck to him for the future.

It's occurred to me that Kiss may be in charge because the outstanding candidates are either utterly disinterested/playing hardball - Conor O'Shea(knock-on) and Schmidt - or might be using the Irish job to strongarm the ARU into putting Robbie Deans against the wall (McKenzie and White).

So we may get Kiss by default.

connachtexile wrote:
I think its_phil is a holier than thou Narc for Rugbytech but that's neither here nor there

:woohoo:

A narc?! What am I some kind of undercover gardai! :lol:

Worked in Elverys for a few years, know a guy at Rugbytech with some inside info. My deepest apologies for that.

Not sure what that has to do with my opinion on Kidney or anything about Connacht on the pitch but boy oh boy you can hold a grudge. 8 months ago pal I posted last on that, grow up.

Gonna leave it there because it is taking away from a good discussion. All the best Exile

Bit worried seeing Les Kiss taking the summer tour. Is continuity really so important when we are playing tier 3 opposition?

It's money Borders. They've fired one coach but firing the whole team would be costly. Best let Kiss handle this, we should win these games handy enough unless there is a major disaster and then there contracts finish the end of June and we can start a fresh.

My fear now is that Kiss could use this as a launch pad to try and get the job himself and not bring in any young guys who we need to blood for the next World Cup.

And you are entitled to it exile. To acknowldge someones achievent is the norm in these situations and is only fair. We won a gs under his tenure. In doing so changed the expectation levels of an entire nation. We may not see another one in my lifetime who knows. The last one was 61 yrs before. I hope thats not the case and any new coach will now be judged on his ability to deliver one.

its_phil wrote:
Kidney didn't evolve after the ELV's, that was his greatest downfall.

Spot on!

Best of luck to him in the future, he helped get us over the line for the grand slam when we got that bit of luck that had eluded us other years.

In fairness to him he presided over a difficult period with a lot of player turnover and he hardly had the best Irish team ever at his disposal even before the injuries. Having said that he dug his own grave in my opinion.

Bit worried seeing Les Kiss taking the summer tour. Is continuity really so important when we are playing tier 3 opposition? Sometimes you just need a fresh start. I suppose it could be worse Bradley could have been handed the reins for the summer.

Whatever your opinion you could at least show some class. You are normally a good contributer but these comments are tabloid like. He is gone and replaced. He delivered a gs and for that he deserves thanks. After that lets move on.

You can start polishing your stones for kiss now. Afterall lancaster srarted in an interim capacity!

Maybe you can start a kiss out thread?!

I think your a good contributor as well Rossie (I think its_phil is a holier than thou Narc for Rugbytech but that's neither here nor there) but my opinion is my opinion. Your welcome to disagree with it but I'm not suddenly going to switch to Mr. Nicey Nice now that Kidney has finally being gotten rid of.

As for Les Kiss I rate him highly and I hope he does a good job but I think there is a malaise in the Irish camp and nothing but a clear out is going to revitalize the Irish national team.

rossie wrote: Whatever your opinion you could at least show some class. You are normally a good contributer but these comments are tabloid like. He is gone and replaced. He delivered a gs and for that he deserves thanks. After that lets move on.

You can start polishing your stones for kiss now. Afterall lancaster srarted in an interim capacity!

Maybe you can start a kiss out thread?!

x2 Heineken Cups
x1 Celtic League
x1 U19 World Cup
and a well deserved IRB coach of the year in 2009 when we went unbeaten for the year.

Kidney didn't evolve after the ELV's, that was his greatest downfall.

Whatever your opinion you could at least show some class. You are normally a good contributer but these comments are tabloid like. He is gone and replaced. He delivered a gs and for that he deserves thanks. After that lets move on.

You can start polishing your stones for kiss now. Afterall lancaster srarted in an interim capacity!

Maybe you can start a kiss out thread?!

connachtexile wrote: I could argue with you its_phil like pointing out he only had 8 weeks left of a contract which he would have gotten if he negotiated his resignation sparing the non-confrontational IRFU a sacking and has already being tapped up to run the UCC sports division but I don't care enough about your opinion

I remember reading in a Thornley article that it was around €350,000 Kidney was on. So walking away from about €58,000 is something easily done?

So what you don't like my opinions because I disagree with you? Great way to gain perspective.