Robbie Deans favourite as Matt O’Connor exit points to new hire and fire culture

Official notice of Matt O’Connor’s exit from Leinster landed shortly after 10am yesterday, but the writing had been on the wall for the Australian head coach for a month.

Four weeks to the day beforehand, rugby journalists had been invited to the Aviva Stadium with Joe Schmidt and IRFU Performance Director David Nucifora to talk specifically about issues regarding player welfare.

O’Connor had been vocal about the matter for some months, pointing to the regular exodus of Leinster players to national camp and suggesting that there was a need to have the provincial and national bigwigs sit down for a renegotiation.