New Irish back coach??

Any news on this lads. It is an absolutely critical appointment.

Our back play has been utterly pedestrian since kidney took over and gaffney had control over our the backs. we have plenty of exciting backs in the country at the moment but for some reason their hc performances are not being replicated in the green.

Without a real threat in the backs our game plan has centred around bludgeoning up the middle using our back row.

Please do not let it be Bryan Smith who got quite a pasting in the English RFU report. Who is available and who would you like?

Getting Schmidt involved to coach the backs would be ideal but i do not think he would do it. David Knox is a horrible little aussie sh1t but a very good creative backs coach.

Ireland won't be getting one til after the 6 Nations.

yerrah why would we need one

prepared for another riveting 6 nations campaign featuring lots of choke tackles and cluelessness with ball in hand and lots of kicking.

The Ireland Summer tour is our priority Dave, not the 6 Nations.

Im glad to see us taking our time. Its not that we aren't hiring someone - simply the choices available are not satisfactory and the management need to consider the options. There is not sufficient time to get someone involved and up to speed in time.

ok if we are writing the 6 nations off hopefully we give youth a fling and reward the likes of omahony, omalley, cave etc. not holding my breath though.

eddie o sullivan could do a job an im only half joking

We aren't writing it off - simply put we have a bigger priority in the Summer where I feel we will see real change.

I think there will be minimal change in the 6 Nations.

The IRFU have said that the 6N is the priority. Kidney has been told clearly that he is not allowed to experiment at the expense of results or build towards the next world cup until after 2013.

The 6N is the cash cow so takes priority apparently, which unfortunately means we are unlikely to ever perform to our potential in the RWC.

roddersm wrote:The IRFU have said that the 6N is the priority. Kidney has been told clearly that he is not allowed to experiment at the expense of results or build towards the next world cup until after 2013.

The 6N is the cash cow so takes priority apparently, which unfortunately means we are unlikely to ever perform to our potential in the RWC.

Disagree. If Kidney won a 6 Nations every year for next 4 years I would back us to win the RWC. Wouldn't you?

That involves picking the best team every year. The team which would win the 2013 Six Nations would be different to 2012 Six Nations and so on.

Conor O'Shea when will he be done with Quinns?

we are so backward compared to other nations. why not starting to make changes now? We had an ok world cup thats all. Surely given the success of our provinces we should be targeting building a team to get to the world cup semis in 2015

i mean do we honestly think we have a better chance of winning the 6 nations with earls and darcy in midfield, an unbalanced back row and no backs coach. If we do i would be amazed.

i really do not think by playing our best outside centres from this season at outside centre in the 6 nations is going to weaken us. O'Malley and Cave are the best 13's in Ireland at the moment. No doubt Earls will start at 13 if he recovers from injury. What does that say to Cave and O'Malley when a guy who spends more time on the wing for Munster gets in ahead of them in the 13 jersey.

Likewise i dont think playing O'Mahony at 8 would weaken us. However Heaslip has massively improved the last 3 games and looks back to his best. Maybe he realized that he is going to have to fight hard to retain his place for Leinster.

Frustrates the bejaysus out of me. No wonder we flatter to deceive when it really matters.

Perhaps the real issue is Deccie's win % is low and he is under pressure to up this and he thinks playing the tried and trusted lads who have served him over the years will get him out of a hole. If so this will slow the development of the Irish national team

The Ireland Summer tour is our priority Dave, not the 6 Nations

I'm guessing it's less to do with competition priorities and a lot more to do with contracts and clubs plainly refusing to play ball mid way through a season. Should the IRFU go hunting for a new coach to start in June time then clubs are more likely to be receptive rather than trying to steal them in Feb.

Similar situation with the RFU and it's agreement not to target coaches who are at clubs inside of the season. Makes it necessary for them to appoint a stand in and wait until the summer.

red_stag wrote:
Disagree. If Kidney won a 6 Nations every year for next 4 years I would back us to win the RWC. Wouldn't you?

Not really no. What I'd be expecting is that we we would dip this year and next as we rebuild and then progressively improve to peak at 2015. That is what other top teams do. Winning next season with an aging squad whilst other teams rebuild is a false economy and will only hurt us down the line.

i think we have the resources to do this rodders and still remain very competitive this year.

try this for a 22man "development" squad for wales game

backs- kearney,bowe,trimble,earls,omalley,mc fadden,sexton,i humphreys,murray,reddan
forwards - healy,best,ross,ryan,oconnell,ferris,sob,heaslip,court,cronin,tuohy,o mahony.

they are 22 hc regulars performing well week in week out who will be around in 2015 (with the exception of mcfadden). 12 could well be an issue. downey a few years younger could have done a job (ducks for cover)

it will take some cahoonas but rog,drico,donners,leo,darcy are not going to see another world cup much as they have served us well over the years

this wont happen but i would at least like to see a middleground with o'malley,o'mahony and cave in the squad

we have serious playing resources for a small island. so less of the loser attitude oh we are punching above our weight etc etc.

I agree Dave.