Headhunt after Kidney removed
Kidney, 53, was told yesterday in a meeting with IRFU chief executive Philip Browne at the Lansdowne Road head office that the national team review group had decided not to renew his contract when his current deal ended on Jun 30, and then relieved him of his role immediately.
By the time the IRFU announced the decision at about 3.30pm, it had already set the wheels in motion on finding the 2009 Grand Slam-winning coach’s successor, bringing in an outside consultant to help the review group conduct a successful search.
This is the first time the IRFU has taken such a course of action, with a union insider revealing the consultant had already begun to trawl through a list of candidates believed to be headed by Queensland Reds coach McKenzie and Leinster boss Joe Schmidt.
The IRFU was not revealing its preferred shortlist of candidates to take Irish rugby through to the 2015 World Cup in England and beyond, but Browne told RTÉ News last night: “We are going to use outside professional advice to help us with the process. I think what we will do is we will also bring on board, in terms of the interviewing panel, someone with experience and expertise in professional rugby and our aim will be to try and find another world-class coach for the Irish team.”
The IRFU has appointed Les Kiss, the current attack coach, as interim head coach for this summer’s two-test tour of the USA and Canada.
McKenzie is the favourite, with Ladbrokes Ireland cutting the Super 15 coach to 8/13 favourite, with Schmidt 7/2, Kiss 6/1, and Ireland U20 coach and former Wales Grand Slam-winning coach Mike Ruddock at 9/1.
Harlequins director of rugby Conor O’Shea is the leading homegrown candidate at 20/1, but has publicly committed his immediate future to the club he led to the English Premiership title last May.
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