Former Munster stars say Kidney should walk

They may have been key cogs in the pack during his first spell at Munster, but Alan Quinlan, Mick Galwey and Peter Clohessy are all adamant that Declan Kidney should walk away from his role as Ireland head coach at the end of the Six Nations.

After calls from some quarters for Kidney to resign following last Sunday week’s surprise defeat to Scotland, the chances of him being awarded a new deal by the IRFU are slim.

And the trio, who were all playing for the province during the 53-year-old’s initial spell from 1998 to 2002, were humming the same tune at a fundraising event for the Mercy University Hospital foundation and Glen Rovers in Cork hours before the decision was made to cull O’Gara from the squad.

Clohessy said: “He’s had a great career but I think it’s time for him to move on. If I was him, I’d like to think he would be man enough to step down when his contract is over.”

Of the three, Quinlan spent the longest time under Kidney at Munster, and he believes the decisions to take the captaincy from Brian O’Driscoll and select Paddy Jackson over Ronan O’Gara at out-half in Murrayfield have ended any chances of the IRFU tabling a new contract.

“He’s under serious pressure,” Quinlan said. “He’s Ireland’s most decorated coach, he’s a great man-manager and has always treated his players with the greatest of respect but like any other coach, he has had tough decisions to make. Unfortunately, a few things have gone against him in the past year.

“The decision with the captaincy was always going to be a big one for him. At the time I said there shouldn’t be a big deal made of it and it was one of those that if Ireland had a great Six Nations, everybody would have said it was a great decision to make. It was a bold decision and it has backfired on him. If you have a player like Brian O’Driscoll on the pitch, he’s probably too big a player to not make captain. Jamie Heaslip was maybe intimidated by it, but then again if you’re winning matches these issues wouldn’t come up.

“The Paddy Jackson decision was another big one. I had said before the game that O’Gara should have started because it was a game that Ireland were under pressure going into and they needed to get the scoreboard ticking-over with penalties. Even though O’Gara’s general play hasn’t been up to scratch, his goal-kicking is phenomenal.”

Quinlan, who criticised the Irish supporters for the atmosphere at the Aviva Stadium during last month’s England defeat, also feels that there has been ‘toxic’ media coverage from some quarters directed towards Kidney in recent weeks: “Well those two decisions left a lot of the public dismayed and there was a bit of frustration. It’s maybe a little bit toxic too, coming from some sides of the Dublin media because Declan was in the Leinster job a few years ago and he left when the Munster job came up.”

Galwey, meanwhile, has urged supporters to come out in force for Saturday’s visit of a French side reeling from three defeats on the bounce — even though he also believes Kidney’s time is up.

“At this stage, I think we should be getting behind the team. We are facing a French side who are coming off the back of three defeats next weekend and they will be fighting for a win at the Aviva. But whatever decisions Declan makes, I think we should respect and support the team.”

Galwey also re-iterated that it’s important not to forget the successes Kidney enjoyed in the past 15 years: “We have to remember that Declan has done an awful lot for Irish rugby and even though it’s time for him to go. In the middle of the Six Nations, you can’t change the coach. We have to stick with what we have for the next two games.”