Leinster assistant linked with scrum role as Ireland continue making plans for life after Schmidt

Leinster’s John Fogarty has emerged as the prime candidate to succeed the departing Greg Feek as Ireland scrum coach under Andy Farrell. 

Feek, who is currently splitting his time between Ireland and a club role in Japan, is set to step away from the Irish set-up along with his boss Joe Schmidt following this year’s World Cup in Japan.

That has left the already-anointed successor Farrell, who will be promoted from his current defence coach position, on the lookout for a replacement and former hooker Fogarty is apparently in pole position.  

There was speculation that Fogarty had already accepted the new job, but Leinster boss Leo Cullen, who recently signed a deal to remain in charge of the defending Champions Cup champions, said this was wide of the mark. 

“From what I understand, there is interest in John because he’s very good at what he does,” said Cullen to Irish media amid the build-up to Saturday’s sold-out European quarter-final against Irish rivals Ulster in Dublin. 

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“For a number of people across the organisation, when things go well, there’s interest from outside. That is where people tend to look when recruiting from the outside.

“I think John was disappointed, shall we say, with some of the comments that appeared during the weekend from certain people because they’re not necessarily accurate. He is a man in demand.”

Fogarty, who won his only Ireland cap off the bench against New Zealand in 2010, was forced to retire from playing due to a series of concussions.

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He quickly went to work in the Leinster academy system and became Cullen’s scrum coach in 2015 following Marco Caputo’s departure following the sacking of Matt O’Connor, the coach who had appointed him.   

Montpellier backs coach Alex King has also been linked to Farrell’s new Ireland management ticket.