Kidney Signs New Contract

First topic message reminder :


Kidney has signed a contract extension to the end of the 2012/13 season along with Gert Smal, Les Kiss and Mark Tainton. Gaffney has elected to go back to Australia. His replacement has not be announced.

http://www.espnscrum.com/ireland/rugby/story/144520.html


Thoughts?

"Yes, it's a less daft move than the EOS 4 year extension, but it's still unnecessary.

Well, thats your opinion but mine is that its good business by the IRFU. It also shows their confidence in Kidney & Co, and thats good for the WC surely?"


It's not my opinion. It's a fact that they didn't need to extend the contract. It is however my opinion that this extension will have zero impact on the WC. It didn't help EOS, and it didn't help Capello. Why would Kidney do a better job just because he's perhaps less likely to be fired for doing a bad one?

He's a good coach and a long servant to Irish rugby. I'm pretty sure he'd give 100% regardless of the contract situation.

Gaffney is gone rodders.

MBTGOG wrote:Gaffney is gone rodders.

Ah didn't see that! We're making some progress then!

roddersm wrote:

OnASideNote wrote:
We have a very healthy for against ratio pointing to a damn good defensive plan.

Exactly why I'm delighted that Kiss is staying but I remain very unconvinced about Kidney, Gaffney and Smal.

I'm willing to give Kidney the benefit of the doubt as far as the WC goes based on the England performance but I just don't understand the timing of these extensions.

Yeah Rodders, I do see the reasons for peoples unease at the situation considering the EOS debacle, im just putting forward the pros to the IRFU's decision.

Hopefully, we'll win the thing and everybody will laud the IRFU's forward thinking

funnyExiledScot wrote:"Yes, it's a less daft move than the EOS 4 year extension, but it's still unnecessary.

Well, thats your opinion but mine is that its good business by the IRFU. It also shows their confidence in Kidney & Co, and thats good for the WC surely?"


It's not my opinion. It's a fact that they didn't need to extend the contract. It is however my opinion that this extension will have zero impact on the WC. It didn't help EOS, and it didn't help Capello. Why would Kidney do a better job just because he's perhaps less likely to be fired for doing a bad one?

He's a good coach and a long servant to Irish rugby. I'm pretty sure he'd give 100% regardless of the contract situation.

Well, Kiss, Small & Tainton & their families might have wanted to know whether they had a job when they come back from the world cup/what country they would be living in. Their kids would be in schools here etc.

It also puts extra pressure on the players knowing that their coaching staff's jobs are on the line if they feck up.

[quote="Sin é"]

funnyExiledScot wrote:"


It's not my opinion. It's a fact that they didn't need to extend the contract.

Your kind of missing my point. True, they didn't have to extend it. But they chose to in order to 1) Secure DK's services in the event of a successful WC (and most likely at a lower cost) 2) Ensure there is no uncertainty in the camp 3) Ensure a level of continuity post WC (for better or worse).

The potential downside is that they may have to buy him out ( tho I suspect SinE is right in saying that Kidney would leave voluntarily), but only buy him out with a year left. Not 3 or 4. I just think the IRFU are playing the odds AND showing faith in Kidney.

Sin é wrote:

funnyExiledScot wrote:"Yes, it's a less daft move than the EOS 4 year extension, but it's still unnecessary.

Well, thats your opinion but mine is that its good business by the IRFU. It also shows their confidence in Kidney & Co, and thats good for the WC surely?"


It's not my opinion. It's a fact that they didn't need to extend the contract. It is however my opinion that this extension will have zero impact on the WC. It didn't help EOS, and it didn't help Capello. Why would Kidney do a better job just because he's perhaps less likely to be fired for doing a bad one?

He's a good coach and a long servant to Irish rugby. I'm pretty sure he'd give 100% regardless of the contract situation.

Well, Kiss, Small & Tainton & their families might have wanted to know whether they had a job when they come back from the world cup/what country they would be living in. Their kids would be in schools here etc.

It also puts extra pressure on the players knowing that their coaching staff's jobs are on the line if they feck up.

Heaven forbid the players be under pressure!

That's the nature of coaching. It's a performance based job, and the every coach should be under pressure to perform at the World Cup. If they screw up, they should be sacked.

We are not her to give these guys job security it is doing what is best for Irish rugby.

DK is not an individual who would be going to another nation as a coach if he had a good WC. A contract ending on 31st December 2011 would have made sense to me.

funnyExiledScot wrote:

Sin é wrote:

funnyExiledScot wrote:"Yes, it's a less daft move than the EOS 4 year extension, but it's still unnecessary.

Well, thats your opinion but mine is that its good business by the IRFU. It also shows their confidence in Kidney & Co, and thats good for the WC surely?"


It's not my opinion. It's a fact that they didn't need to extend the contract. It is however my opinion that this extension will have zero impact on the WC. It didn't help EOS, and it didn't help Capello. Why would Kidney do a better job just because he's perhaps less likely to be fired for doing a bad one?

He's a good coach and a long servant to Irish rugby. I'm pretty sure he'd give 100% regardless of the contract situation.

Well, Kiss, Small & Tainton & their families might have wanted to know whether they had a job when they come back from the world cup/what country they would be living in. Their kids would be in schools here etc.

It also puts extra pressure on the players knowing that their coaching staff's jobs are on the line if they feck up.

Heaven forbid the players be under pressure!

That's the nature of coaching. It's a performance based job, and the every coach should be under pressure to perform at the World Cup. If they screw up, they should be sacked.

You haven't said what a screw up is at the world cup?

I think it takes more than 3 years to make your mark as an international coach. Michael Cheika for one would have gotten the bullet if the Leinster managemenet didn't give him a bit of time at Leinster - and he has the benefit of having the same team everyday and a chequebook to be able to sort out propping, outhalf problems.

geoff998rugby wrote:We are not her to give these guys job security it is doing what is best for Irish rugby.

Well Geoff, it depends. The IRFU obviously believe this is the best thing for Irish Rugby, u dont. Fair enough. I guess we'll know in a few months which one of ye was of the right opinion...

Plus, I agree he is unlikely to coach another international team, but he has expressed a desire to return to club coaching and I'm fairly sure there are clubs out there who would love to secure his services.......

Sin é wrote:
It also puts extra pressure on the players knowing that their coaching staff's jobs are on the line if they feck up.

If these guys can't deal with pressure they shouldn't be in the job. Maybe the AB's should give Henry a wee extension too in case he gets to hung up on winning the WC.

If we don't reach at the very least the QF's and give a good account of ourselves when we are there then we should have a new coaching team in place by the 6N.

Which club would take him though - no vacancy in Ireland as far as I can tell.

Geoff,

There aren't just teams in Ireland.

I would imagine that this is a very important season for Tony McGahan!!

True but Kidney stikes me as a home bird.

As OnASideNote infers McGahan would be the only one who could be under pressure if Kidney was on the dole.

roddersm wrote:

Sin é wrote:
It also puts extra pressure on the players knowing that their coaching staff's jobs are on the line if they feck up.

If these guys can't deal with pressure they shouldn't be in the job. Maybe the AB's should give Henry a wee extension too in case he gets to hung up on winning the WC.

If we don't reach at the very least the QF's and give a good account of ourselves when we are there then we should have a new coaching team in place by the 6N.

Its not they can't deal with pressure, its just additional baggage that is not necessary to carry. You obviously haven't heard Kidney's coaching philosophy that to perform well, you need everything to be going well in your life (family, relationships etc) and why you will hear comments coming from the players that Kidney runs a happy camp etc.

You won't get a good coaching performance from Les Kiss et al if they are their families are wondering where his next pay cheque is going to come from.

By the way, who would you suggest could be a possible replacement to coach the next 6Ns. Bearing in mind the IRFU would have to secure the services of a coach and have him installed within 2 months of the end of the world cup. Michael Bradley is fully employed now and won't be able to step in to cover for that period.

MJ might be free though

geoff998rugby wrote:We are not her to give these guys job security it is doing what is best for Irish rugby.

DK is not an individual who would be going to another nation as a coach if he had a good WC. A contract ending on 31st December 2011 would have made sense to me.

That would have made no sense at all. We then go into the 2012 six nations with a new coach having less than two months too prepare for it. Now that the coaches have job security they can focus fully on Ireland doing their best at the world cup. If Kiss or Smal were unsure of what they are doing after the world cup, they might have had half a mind on looking for a job for after the world cup. These guys have to look after their families welfare and this gives them security. Its only two years and if he goes after that they can bring in a new coach, who will have time to prepare for the next world cup.

Also its not unusual, Robbie deans has had his contract extended as well, as has andy robinson.

Sin é wrote:

Its not they can't deal with pressure, its just additional baggage that is not necessary to carry. You obviously haven't heard Kidney's coaching philosophy that to perform well, you need everything to be going well in your life (family, relationships etc) and why you will hear comments coming from the players that Kidney runs a happy camp etc.

What a lovely story. I wonder does Kidney read his coaching team bed time stories too.

I suspect from the players perspective the last thing you'd be think of if Brad thorn or sonny bill williams was trying to take your head off would be how happy your home life is....

Rodders,

It is true that is what he does and it works well.

geoff998rugby wrote:Which club would take him though - no vacancy in Ireland as far as I can tell.

No, but he had no problem picking up a job with the Dragons a couple of years ago and that was prior to his 2 Heineken Cup wins.

I'd say the Ospreys would be very interested, not to mention a couple of English clubs who change their coaches regularly.

MBTGOG wrote:Rodders,

It is true that is what he does and it works well.

If it works so well then why have we lost so many games over the past 18 months?

roddersm wrote:

MBTGOG wrote:Rodders,

It is true that is what he does and it works well.

If it works so well then why have we lost so many games over the past 18 months?

We have had quite a lot of injuries, and maybe just maybe, we're not as good as we think we are?

Maybe we're better than we think we are?

Anyway I'm not sure what Kidney's "happy campers" coaching philosphy has to do with the IRFU giving him and his team contract extensions?

Maybe because us fans don't give other teams the credit they deserve.

MBTGOG wrote:Maybe because us fans don't give other teams the credit they deserve.

OK now I'm lost....

We have lost games due to poor performances and partially because of our delusions of grandeur. Notice that when people assess Ireland's world cup chances there are a lot of ifs and maybe's. Injuries haven't helped either, and Jamie Heaslip kneeing a Kiwi in the head was also quite damaging(not just to the Kiwi but we were right on thier goal line FFS!)

Thomond wrote:We have lost games due to poor performances and partially because of our delusions of grandeur.

Exactly but in my opinion we only lost 3 games in the past 18 months due to the quality of our players and that was against NZ twice and against France in 2010. Every other game was there to be won was lost due to poor tactics, poor selection or just general malaise and performance of the players.

In my opinion we are underperforming based on the quality of our players and the coaches should be held accountable for this and not rewarded.

In my opinion we are underperforming based on the quality of our players and the coaches should be held accountable for this and not rewarded.

You sure you meant that first part of the sentence?

roddersm wrote:

Thomond wrote:We have lost games due to poor performances and partially because of our delusions of grandeur.

Exactly but in my opinion we only lost 3 games in the past 18 months due to the quality of our players and that was against NZ twice and against France in 2010. Every other game was there to be won was lost due to poor tactics, poor selection or just general malaise and performance of the players.

In my opinion we are underperforming based on the quality of our players and the coaches should be held accountable for this and not rewarded.

Some poor reffing hasn't helped either (Wales anyone )

Fairly badly hit with injury problems against Australia - I seem to remember Niall Ronan (hardly an Ireland frontliner) lining out that day.

Sin é wrote:

roddersm wrote:

Thomond wrote:We have lost games due to poor performances and partially because of our delusions of grandeur.

Exactly but in my opinion we only lost 3 games in the past 18 months due to the quality of our players and that was against NZ twice and against France in 2010. Every other game was there to be won was lost due to poor tactics, poor selection or just general malaise and performance of the players.

In my opinion we are underperforming based on the quality of our players and the coaches should be held accountable for this and not rewarded.

Some poor reffing hasn't helped either (Wales anyone )

Fairly badly hit with injury problems against Australia - I seem to remember Niall Ronan (hardly an Ireland frontliner) lining out that day.

EDIT: Ferris, Leamy, Muldoon all injured. Heaslip banned. Chris Henry was the No. 8.

roddersm wrote:

Thomond wrote:We have lost games due to poor performances and partially because of our delusions of grandeur.

Exactly but in my opinion we only lost 3 games in the past 18 months due to the quality of our players and that was against NZ twice and against France in 2010. Every other game was there to be won was lost due to poor tactics, poor selection or just general malaise and performance of the players.

In my opinion we are underperforming based on the quality of our players and the coaches should be held accountable for this and not rewarded.

You are right, but we only have a handful of players at the very top top level and many at that little step down. It was these top players that had the injuries, any team would struggle with injuries to their very top players. See the thread outside discussing how much more attractive it would be to play the AB's if McCaw and Carter were injured.

Add to that, a new and evolving gameplan I suggest we as a nation have got too accustomed to success due to first Munster (well Ulster I guess) and now Leinster. Club rugby is so different to international rugby. The IRFU cannot just sign a player in a problem position.

I agree that there has been mistakes made in team selection but then EVERYBODY makes mistakes. Oz went and lost to Samoa, then came back and pumped SA.

Its not an exact science......

MBTGOG wrote:

In my opinion we are underperforming based on the quality of our players and the coaches should be held accountable for this and not rewarded.

You sure you meant that first part of the sentence?

Yeah I think so?

Kidney was the right guy to come in and lift the players moral after the WC capitulation in 2007.

However what we need now is a coach who is not influenced by player power who and can give the players the kick up the backside they need by dropping them when they don't perform. We also need someone who is a shrewd tactician to help us beat the best teams.

roddersm wrote:


We also need someone who is a shrewd tactician to help us beat the best teams.

And Kidney having won 2 HC's doesn't qualify?

Anyway, thats a matter of opinion to which your entitled.

Who do you think the IRFU could persuade to take over??

Sin é wrote:Some poor reffing hasn't helped either (Wales anyone )

No I'm sorry but that doesn't wash. ROG couldn't find the range with his boot and kicked the ball down Lee Byrnes throat all afternoon. A top coach would have hauled him off after 20 min or told him to change tactics.

I'm not going to go through every lost game but quite a few were there for the taking and were lost by us rather than won by the opposition. Most notably against SA in the Autumn and against France in the 6N. The opposition were pretty poor on both occaisions but we were even worse.

2010 6N France- Beaten by a better team playing a cracking brand of rugby. A lot of people forget just how good France were in that game.

2010 6N Scotland- Tried to play the brand of rugby everyone wanted to see us employ but I think this game showed Kidney it had to be more natural growth over time.

2010 ST New Zealand- Heaslip red card hampered us but we were playing the best team in the world away.

2010 ST Australia- Huge amount of injuries, especially in the back row but still managed to push them close in Brisbane, where they are very strong.

2010 AI South Africa- Let South Africa get on top early. One of two games we lost that really hurt.

2010 AI New Zealand- Just lost to a better team.

2011 6N France- Lost due to poor discipline, which has since been cleaned.

2011 6N Wales- The worse loss of all. Forget the refereeing howler, the one game we were truly dreadful in.

OnASideNote wrote:And Kidney having won 2 HC's doesn't qualify?

Anyway, thats a matter of opinion to which your entitled.

Who do you think the IRFU could persuade to take over??

Did Munster win the HEC because of Kidney or in spite of him? I'm not so sure it wasn't the latter.

Exactly it's just my opinion and nothing more. If Kidney gets us to the WC SF at least then I'll be happy to change it.

I'd like to see Graham Henry or Ian McGeechan take over....

roddersm wrote:Maybe we're better than we think we are?

Anyway I'm not sure what Kidney's "happy campers" coaching philosphy has to do with the IRFU giving him and his team contract extensions?

Being serious; we're 4th in the world rankings and I think that that is probably fair enough. The tri nations are ahead of us and we're at the head of the chasing pack along with england and france. The three of us are much of a muchness even though it could be argued that france ought to be much better than the are. In the last 18 months there have been some disappointing results and performances. However; it would be unfair to lay all the blame at the coaches door. Kidney has his faults and has been slow to make changes, substitutes and squads, and gaffney shouldn't be involved.

2009 is probably considered a success and then after that the lions tour happened and any chance of building on the grand slam was delayed. The november internationals were good, even though we should have beat australia rather than scraping a draw. Last years six nations was a disaster and it could be put down to a hangover from the grand slam and other teams being more up to beat us but I think its fair to say that Kidney screwed up and got the tactics badly wrong. The summer tour that followed was a disaster. But I don't think the entire blame can be put at kidneys feet for that. Heaslip and rog destroyed any slim hopes that we had against new zealand. Against australia we had a good performance and you can't expect kidney to make takcles for the players. Jennings and ronan screwed up and should have nailed cooper. Thats before you take into account the injuries we had.

The november internationals were a regression, poor team selection, poor tactics and injuries meant south africa was a disaster, before we put in a decent display against new zealand. I'm probably in the minority in that I don't think we were that bad in the six nations besides the scotland game. I think Kidney got the tactics right and realised that we need to play the type of game we played against new zealand. Against italy we should have won comfortably but one of our centres forgot how to catch the ball and the other forgot how to pass. Darcy knocked on twice within five metres of the italian line. Our poor discipline kept italy in the game and unfortunately it was the same against france. We played well in that match and it was incredibly frustrating to watch them give away stupid penalties after stupid penalty followed by another knock on with the line in sight. Scotland in murrayfield is always hopeless, we got a win the less said about the game the better. Wales same problems as the france and italy game compounded by a bad decision.

The timing of the contract is poor but like I said its not unusual. If we sack kidney after the world cup who will we go for? The Italians are getting rid of mallet but before italy beat france they were happy to see the back of him but now hes the flavour of the month. Imo hes at least as conservative as kidney and worse with tactics. Have a bit of faith, kidney gets knockout rugby, we will preform this time.

roddersm wrote:
Did Munster win the HEC because of Kidney or in spite of him? I'm not so sure it wasn't the latter.

Exactly it's just my opinion and nothing more. If Kidney gets us to the WC SF at least then I'll be happy to change it.

I'd like to see Graham Henry or Ian McGeechan take over....

I dunno, DK dropped Strings for a relative pup in TOL and he turned out to be one of the more influential players in the march to a HC win.

Anyway, we will all see what happens in a few short months, im :puke: with anticipation.
The noises coming out of camp are just so different to last time.

IF, IF the AB's bomb again, would u really want Henry? Best team on the planet, fail again????????? Jees, and ur tough on Kidney

Did Munster win the HEC because of Kidney or in spite of him? I'm not so sure it wasn't the latter.

Not even in the slightest.

roddersm wrote:

Sin é wrote:Some poor reffing hasn't helped either (Wales anyone )

No I'm sorry but that doesn't wash. ROG couldn't find the range with his boot and kicked the ball down Lee Byrnes throat all afternoon. A top coach would have hauled him off after 20 min or told him to change tactics.

I'm not going to go through every lost game but quite a few were there for the taking and were lost by us rather than won by the opposition. Most notably against SA in the Autumn and against France in the 6N. The opposition were pretty poor on both occaisions but we were even worse.

O'Gara was 'hauled' off at 49 mins. and Ireland were leading at the time (9-13).
Ireland conceeded the try on 50 mins. Ireland didn't score again after that.

Who should Kidney have hauled Sexton off for?

I agree with MBTGOG - that was a horrible match - but as far as I can remember, the Welsh lineout was working well.

roddersm wrote:

OnASideNote wrote:And Kidney having won 2 HC's doesn't qualify?

Anyway, thats a matter of opinion to which your entitled.

Who do you think the IRFU could persuade to take over??

Did Munster win the HEC because of Kidney or in spite of him? I'm not so sure it wasn't the latter.

Exactly it's just my opinion and nothing more. If Kidney gets us to the WC SF at least then I'll be happy to change it.

I'd like to see Graham Henry or Ian McGeechan take over....

You can't be serious. Munster have never reached a hec final without him. Kidney has his faults but don't go overblowing them. As for henry or mcgeechan, geech has shown recently that he isn't much good unless hes coaching the lions and henry isn't exactly remembered fondly in wales and I'm not sure how nz fans will feel about him if he fails a second time in november.

Val some good points. I think you missed a few though.

Against Italy the lineout was a shambles. Kidney picked 3 backrowers who were 6'2 against Parisse at 6'5 so we couldn't throw to the back and Italy pick off all our throws to the middle, therefore we couldn't launch any attacks of the set piece.

Against France TOL's service was obviously putting Sexton under pressure yet Kidney didn't make any changes.

Against SA we tried to play expansive rugby in the rain and SA pummelled us up front.

Kidney has shown himself time and time again to do nothing when things are going wrong on the pitch. He seems incapable of using the bench effectively all too often fails to get the tactics and selection right against a given opposition

OnASideNote wrote:

roddersm wrote:
Did Munster win the HEC because of Kidney or in spite of him? I'm not so sure it wasn't the latter.

Exactly it's just my opinion and nothing more. If Kidney gets us to the WC SF at least then I'll be happy to change it.

I'd like to see Graham Henry or Ian McGeechan take over....

I dunno, DK dropped Strings for a relative pup in TOL and he turned out to be one of the more influential players in the march to a HC win.

Anyway, we will all see what happens in a few short months, im :puke: with anticipation.
The noises coming out of camp are just so different to last time.

IF, IF the AB's bomb again, would u really want Henry? Best team on the planet, fail again????????? Jees, and ur tough on Kidney

If Henry fails with New Zealand again, the AB will be on the blower to Kidney

Sin é wrote:
If Henry fails with New Zealand again, the AB will be on the blower to Kidney

Yeah I'm sure he's popular over there because before he came along we used to push the AB's harder than any other NH team and now we can't get within 30 points of them.

roddersm wrote:Val some good points. I think you missed a few though.

Against Italy the lineout was a shambles. Kidney picked 3 backrowers who were 6'2 against Parisse at 6'5 so we couldn't throw to the back and Italy pick off all our throws to the middle, therefore we couldn't launch any attacks of the set piece.

Flannery was injured. Not one of our hookers are able to throw the ball to the back, so it doesn't matter what jumpers you have back there.

Against Italy the lineout was a shambles. Kidney picked 3 backrowers who were 6'2 against Parisse at 6'5 so we couldn't throw to the back and Italy pick off all our throws to the middle, therefore we couldn't launch any attacks of the set piece.

So it's Kidney's fault the back rowers aren't taller?

Against SA we tried to play expansive rugby in the rain and SA pummelled us up front.

Kidney has shown himself time and time again to do nothing when things are going wrong on the pitch. He seems incapable of using the bench effectively all too often fails to get the tactics and selection right against a given opposition

You mean like in the South African game you mentioned previous where he brought O'Gara on who nearly changed the whole game?

roddersm wrote:Val some good points. I think you missed a few though.

Against Italy the lineout was a shambles. Kidney picked 3 backrowers who were 6'2 against Parisse at 6'5 so we couldn't throw to the back and Italy pick off all our throws to the middle, therefore we couldn't launch any attacks of the set piece.

Against France TOL's service was obviously putting Sexton under pressure yet Kidney didn't make any changes.

Against SA we tried to play expansive rugby in the rain and SA pummelled us up front.

Kidney has shown himself time and time again to do nothing when things are going wrong on the pitch. He seems incapable of using the bench effectively all too often fails to get the tactics and selection right against a given opposition

Kidney had few other options. Heaslip and Ferris were injured, you can't pick backrowers purely for their ability in the lineout there is much more to the game than that. I really don't see what you think kidney could have done there. Ryan, tuohy and muldoon were injured as well and I don't think they are better than the players who played.

I don't think tol;s service at that much of an impact on the france game but we've had this argument before and you're not going to change your mind. Poor discipline and poor handling cost us this game. Best gave away one of the stupidest penalties I've seen in my life in this game, the ref told him hands off, best looked at the ref, the ref repeated himself and best still looking at the ref grabbed the ball. Doc gave away another bad one and d'arcy shouldn't have missed the tackle. You can't blame tol or kidney for that.

Kidney gives his players the freedom to alter the gameplan if they see fit, sexton should have done so but I agree that the tactics were poor.

Kidney has been slow to use the bench, I'm not sure if he was the same at munster. But I think he generally gets the tactics right. You are being extremely harsh on him and I don't really know why.

roddersm wrote:

Sin é wrote:
If Henry fails with New Zealand again, the AB will be on the blower to Kidney

Yeah I'm sure he's popular over there because before he came along we used to push the AB's harder than any other NH team and now we can't get within 30 points of them.

Ireland don't register for all blacks fans. We are irrelevant, all they care about is the world cup and he failed miserably last time.

roddersm wrote:

Sin é wrote:
If Henry fails with New Zealand again, the AB will be on the blower to Kidney

Yeah I'm sure he's popular over there because before he came along we used to push the AB's harder than any other NH team and now we can't get within 30 points of them.

Henry didn't impress greatly when he was coaching Wales either.

Kidney would get the AB's heads right for the win.

You don't seem to have much time for all this sports psychology stuff!

Guys I'm glad you are all so confident in Kidney and if you are right and I am wrong then no one will be happier than me.

I'm not going to sit and debate every point raised otherwise we'll be here all day but I believe Kidney has to take a fair bit of the responsibility for many of our poor performances over the past 18 months.

I think the timing is wrong to extend his contract and I don't think he deserves it based on our recent form. It's done now and I hope Kidney can lead our best ever squad of players to our most successful WC ever.