Spot the Difference

he Blues (the name becomes a little more apt every day) have confirmed that big Phil Davies is the new head boy. That’s right, they have plumped for the man who has almost single headedly emasculated the fearsome Worcester pack, bankrupted the Scarlets, relegated Leeds and led Wales U20’s to their worst set of results in the modern era.

Munster have also confirmed their new head coach – Rob Penney. Mr Penney has just coached Canterbury to their (and his) 4th consecutive NPC title, he has previously been Canterbury’s academy manager (a system that has produced one or two players of note) and he has been the assistant coach at the Saders in previous Super 12 wins.

Both Wales and Ireland lack quality coaches but Ireland (at least at provincial level) have acknowledged this!

Arguably acknowledged it, and done nothing about rectifying the problem and bought somebody in!

I wasnt wumming i posted this as it part of a rant one of my customers in work had this afternoon as he's a massive blues fan. I thought it might generate debate

I agree with you mate!!!

Wales have better coaches than Ireland I'd say. The Welsh players have always been more skillful and the Welsh teams generally play a better brand of rugby.

tecphobe wrote:I wasnt wumming i posted this as it part of a rant one of my customers in work had this afternoon as he's a massive blues fan. I thought it might generate debate

"massive"? How massive?

has been know to fly to italy for away matches

i think by appointing these guys, the Irish provinces are aiding the development of their back room staff. At ulster the Mark Anscombe stated that he wanted to keep the current backroom staff, who are mostly if not all Irish, working with this guy will only develop their skills and benefit ulster in the long run.

Also by moving Brian McLaughlin to the academy he will not only be in contact with the future stars of ulster rugby but he will also be in contact with their AIL coaches as well, again this can only aid in their development.

i would assume the same goes for what is going on at Munster, these aren't short term fixes but will benefit Irish rugby in the future (hopefully)

That’s right, they have plumped for the man who has almost single headedly emasculated the fearsome Worcester pack, bankrupted the Scarlets, relegated Leeds

Didn't he get Leeds promoted, he worked with Worcester as they got promoted as well. Worcester have a decent pack given limited resources and are bringing through some very talented young forwards such as Matt Mullan, Matt Kvesic, the other openside whose name I've forgotten and Graham Kitchener who was nicked by Tigers at the end of last season.

Sam - he also took the Scarlets to the HEC semi-final (being unbeaten until then) in his first season.

Phil Davies is not the worlds best coach, however he has a track record of improving teams to get to a standard where they should be. The problem is he doesn't seem able to maintain that standard when they get there.

So seeing as the Blues are in a rather dire state at the moment I would say his proven track record at this level makes him a good candidate for he job.

The difference is that Munster have taken a gamble on a man who has not coached in the NH, and has not been the head coach at this kind of level. Is that the difference we were meant to spot, that Munster are taking a bit of a risk, and the Blues are taking a tried and tested route?

tecphobe wrote:has been know to fly to italy for away matches

Bet he doesn't go to home matches though

Sam - he also took the Scarlets to the HEC semi-final (being unbeaten until then) in his first season.

Phil Davies is not the worlds best coach, however he has a track record of improving teams to get to a standard where they should be. The problem is he doesn't seem able to maintain that standard when they get there.

Well if he can steady the ship and get the team working to a decent level then the management can look to bring in additional staff to help him drive the team on or just simply replace him. Given the that the Blues squad is in flux and they have financial issues someone who is good at organising a squad with a limited budget and getting the most out of them is probably a good short term option.