Declan Kidney: Great Man Manager or Luckiest Man Alive

On Saturday 24th May 2008 Declan Kidney masterminded Munsters triumph over Toulouse in the Heineken Cup final in Cardiff. Shortly after he was appointed to the head role coach of the Ireland national team, and just months later had led them to the 6 Nations title and their first grand slam since 1948. The IRB coach of the year award followed later in 2009, a year in which another Irish province, Leinster, won the Heineken Cup.

During Kidneys reign as Ireland supremo, Leinster have in fact won the Heineken Cup twice, and also made the Celtic League play off final twice. Munster have won the Celtic twice in the same period, and Ulster have established themselves as a top half of the table side, making last years play off semi final, along with the knockout stages of the Heineken Cup. So far this season, those three provinces have all qualified for the knockout stages of Europes premier club competition again, and all sit within the top half of the Rabo Direct table, with Munster top and Leinster currently set for the play offs.

It is clear looking the results of the provinces, and the players coming through the academy systems in Ireland, that the set up there is good, and they are producing players capable of performing to a very high level. Whilst overseas stars may have grabbed the headlines in Ulster's recent demolition of Leicester Tigers, homegrown talent such as Rory Best, Chris Henry, Paul Marshall, Paddy wallace and Andrew all contributed hugely, much as the likes of Sean O'Brien, Jamie Heaslip, Johnny Sexton, Paul O'Connell, Ronan O'Gara and Keith Earls have done for Leinster and Munster respectively.

Ulster performance in that game was driven by an intensity usually associated with teams from the Southern Hemisphere, but that has also ben shown regularly by Leinster, and most recently by Munster in their demolition of Northampton Saints at Stadium MK. It is clear from these performances that the players have it in them to go up against anyone, and win, yet it is fair to say that it just has not happened regularly enough when they pull on the green shirt of Ireland.

As stated at the beginning of this piece, Kidneys reign began with glory, and the period since has seen sustained excellence and continued upward progression from 3 of the 4 Irish provinces. Yet at international level, if you look at tournament results, Ireland have declined year on year. From grand slam winners in 2009, to runners in up 2010 and then to third place in the 2011 6 Nations tournament. In each of the previous two competitions, there has been a standout, high intensity performance, such as the victory over England which denied them the grand slam last year, but there has been an inability to deliver performances consistently at that level.

The recent World Cup was no different. Ireland began with a less than convincing victory over the USA, before finding their one big performance to beat Australia, and also deny them even a losing bonus point. Wins against Russia and Italy followed, before being dumped out in the quarter final by the Welsh. Now at Celtic League and Heineken Cup level, Welsh regions victories over Irish provinces, particularly in key games, are rare, the Ospreys Final win over Leinster in 2010 being the exception So the question has to be asked why the levels of performance are not consistently replicated at international level.

The players are the same, with Connacht providing very few to the national squad, and there are plenty of occasions where provincial combinations have been used in the national shirt, so why this relative failure to perform on the biggest stage? The only conclusion that I can draw from what I have seen is that the answer has be Declan Kidney. He is clearly an intelligent man and a good coach, you do not win the trophies that he did with Munster if you are not, however something clearly is not right, as results reflect.

There are those who will argue that he does not select on form and favours the old guard (particularly from Munster) over younger more dynamic alternatives, yet his fans will point to the likes of Cian Healy and Sean O'Brien as examples of younger men that he has brought in to the side. There are also those who will argue that tactically he is stuck in the past, and sees the game through the same eyes that he did whilst at Munster between 2005 and 2008, and this hampers the team as the game has moved on even in that short time. Those who feel he is the right man for the job will counter this by highlighting those dynamic performances already mentioned against England and Australia, as evidence that he is trying to get the team to play in a modern, more dynamic way.

So what is the truth? Is Declan Kidney the right man to take Ireland on to the next level, and have them dominating Northern Hemisphere rugby in the same way that their provincial sides are dominating the club game? Or is he merely a false prophet, hiding behind success at Munster and initially with Ireland which was built more on the ability of the players at his disposal, rather than any great tactical nous or man management from him?

The next 8 weeks will hopefully give us some of the answers. Ireland will be without BOD, and Kidney will have to show that he is able to select the right man to fill his boots. Other than O'Driscoll, ireland have the majority of their best players available, and they are all in form, so there can be no excuses for not getting the best from them. In contrast England are an unknown quantity, France have a new coach and squad, and Wales will be missing key players through injury. If Ireland continue their downward trend since winning the 2009 6 Nations, and finish 4th or below in this competition, then surely Kidney's time must be up, as the answer to the question of what the truth is about him will be clear. On the other hand, Ireland may win the thing again, but I suspect the question will remain, great man manager, or just plain lucky at being Ireland coach at a time where the players at his disposal are better than their counterparts elsewhere in Europe.

Hit me with it folks.

Anyone?

There were two typos that I have corrected (no point taking time in quoting them for you to change!)

The only other couple of slight things are:

He is clearly an intelligent man and a good coach - you do not win the trophies that he did with Munster if you are not. However, clearly something is not right, as results reflect.

Or is he merely a false prophet, hiding behind success at Munster and initially with Ireland which was built more on the ability of the players at his disposal, rather than any great tactical nous or man management from him?

the Ospreys Final win over Leinster in 2010 exceptedbeing the exception

Very good article

Cool. Will hold off posting it until Monday if that's ok? Think the week leading up the 6 Nations will be the best time for maximum reaction to this one.

Edits made. I think actually I will post this today, before tomorrow's wolfhounds game, give it maximum exposure.