Kidney homeward bound for Munster

DECLAN KIDNEY will be unveiled as the new Munster rugby coach in Limerick today in succession to the departing Alan Gaffney.

Kidney met with his Leinster management team in Dublin yesterday to discuss his planned move back to Cork, although the Munster Branch of the Irish Rugby Football Union has refused to confirm his appointment and were unable to positively say that a press conference was arranged for today in Thomond Park.

However, it is understood that Kidney, interviewed alongside Michael Bradley and at least two other high-profile candidates, will return to the province he helped guide to two Heineken European Cup deciders in 2000 and 2002, beating Bradley, the previous favourite for the post.

Gaffney, who succeeded Kidney in the Irish province, is returning home to Australia where he will take up the position of assistant coach to Eddie Jones’s Australian side.

Kidney’s decision to return home will be warmly welcomed by the Munster faithful, who were hugely disappointed following the team’s exit to French side, Biarritz, in the Heineken Cup quarter-final in San Sebastian last Sunday. The previous day, Kidney’s Leinster side went down heavily to the Leicester Tigers at Lansdowne Road and, following that match, news broke that he was to be interviewed for the vacant Munster post in Dublin on Tuesday.

Outside of his impressive track record as Munster coach, while at Presentation Brothers’ College, Cork, Kidney won four successive Munster Junior Cups and then four Munster Senior Cups in five years.

He coached the Ireland Schools to a Triple Crown and led them on a tour of New Zealand, winning seven of nine matches.

In 1998 he guided Ireland’s U-19 side to a World Cup triumph and two years later, coached Ireland A to a Triple Crown victory.

The province enjoyed unprecedented success under Kidney, reaching two Heineken European finals, with stand-out performances being the triumphs over Toulouse in the 2000 semi-final and over Leicester Tigers at Welford Road in 2002.

Kidney also guided the province to a Celtic League title before stepping up as assistant coach to Eddie O’Sullivan with Ireland.

If Kidney’s appointment is ratified, and it seems certain that it will, Leinster will be without a coach for the forthcoming season and will seek to appoint their third Director of Rugby in as many seasons.