Kidney: we’re light-heavyweights in a heavyweight division

IT is 10 years, more or less to the day, since Declan Kidney was first appointed coach of the Munster rugby team. He only got the job because the initial appointee, Welshman John Bevan, accepted it and then turned it down on seeing the turmoil that professionalism and the advent of the European Cup was creating in Irish rugby.

New Zealander Andy Leslie was next in line but as he prevaricated, someone at last had the inspired idea of offering the role to one of our own. Kidney had made his name at Presentation Brothers College where he coached four successive Munster Schools Junior Cup winning teams and four out of five Senior Cup sides.

He also over achieved at his club, Dolphin, and with the Irish schools side. With few other apparent options, he was asked to help out along with Niall O’Donovan.

Kidney and O’Donovan — along with Brian O’Brien as manager — quickly set about putting a solid management structure in place and Munster and Irish rugby should be eternally grateful to them for that.

In the intervening 10 years, Kidney had brief spells with Ireland, the Newport Gwent Dragons and Leinster but his heart lay in his native Cork and Munster. His latest European odyssey begins tomorrow evening against holders Wasps.

Given the shocking draw Munster have been given in this latest campaign, he and his squad may have to dig deeper than ever to maintain the fantastic record of having reached at least the quarter-final of the Heineken Cup every year since 1998.

“We’re basically a light-heavyweight boxer fighting in a heavyweight division but we’re delighted to be here because six months ago it looked as if we wouldn’t have a Heineken Cup at all,” he mused.

“It is a brilliant competition. We have been handed as tough a draw as is possible but we are looking forward to it in the knowledge that it is a massive challenge. Maybe there’s a masochistic side to that but it’s why we play the game. I believe the ERC have said they will look again at the way the pools are drawn and certainly they need to look after what is such a magnificent product.”

It is clearly a shame that only one of Munster, Wasps, Llanelli Scarlets and Clermont Auvergne can make the last eight this year while the likes of a moderate side like London Irish look a good bet to make it simply because they have an Italian side in their pool.

For now, though, Kidney has to play with the cards he has been dealt and is under no illusions about the task that lies in wait: “Essentially, we need six cup winning performances to get out of this pool. There has been a silly expectancy about what Munster can do and it’s the same every year. We can’t expect to do well all the time. That’s being greedy. What we can guarantee is that we will give it our best shot every time.”

Whereas several teams with strong backing have been bringing in a raft of outstanding southern hemisphere players since the end of the World Cup, Munster must wait until January for the arrival of All Black Doug Howlett. They could well be out of the Heineken Cup by then. Forced by the inevitable constraints imposed on the IRFU at the present time, Kidney has been forced to make do with one New Zealand Maori centre, Rua Tipoki, to augment last year’s signing Lifeimi Mafi.

“We’re lucky to have the two Kiwis,” Kidney asserts. “They are good players. You look for different things in this market and see which players want to come here. You go for players in the positions in which you most need them.”

The sense of foreboding surrounding the prospects of all of the Irish provinces going into the Heineken Cup is primarily due to the horribly difficult draws they have each been handed but also because of Ireland’s dismal performances in the World Cup. He was as disappointed as anyone but has obviously been trying to draw a line under it, not least because of 12 of his players were in France and some came in for some very harsh and severe criticism.

He insists: “I don’t sit them down and ask what happened. They are seasoned professionals. It’s not for me to speak on behalf of any of the players. They are all individuals, good pros and I have no qualms about them.”

Kidney says he’s happy to continue in the job “while I am enjoying it” and for now he is equally content to overlook the fact that many of his leading players are either in their late twenties or already well into their thirties. He points out: “Look at the average age of the English team that reached the World Cup final and you realise that it’s not the players age but rather how they perform that counts.”

Many are surprised that Wasps have decided to more or less waive their rights to home ground advantage by moving tomorrow’s game to the £113m, 32,000 capacity Ricoh Stadium more than a hundred miles from their spiritual home at High Wycombe.

They are hoping to make a financial ‘killing’ on the back of Munster’s “travel anywhere” supporters although there were indications last night that the bonanza might not be as handsome as they were hoping. If that is the case — and the result goes against them — Ian McGeechan and his fellow executives at Wasps will have some soul searching to do. Either way, it does seem as if they have forfeited an appreciable amount of advantage for monetary gain.

“That’s what commercial clubs do,” said Kidney. “If they get 6 or 7,000 more people through the stiles, then that amounts to a substantial amount of money. It’s where they beat Northampton in last year’s semi-final while playing the game at such a fine stadium also gives the game a higher profile. As for the surface, it’s just another soccer pitch. It will have a different texture to what we’re accustomed to and will be faster.”