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Wednesday's English Premiership launch was like an Irish coaching reunion

By Liam Heagney
The Premiership clubs have enviable financial muscle when compared to the PRO14. (Photo by Harry Trump/Getty Images for Premiership Rugby)

Ireland’s reputation took a huge hit at Twickenham last month, their national team trounced by England by a record score in a World Cup warm-up, but Irishness was to the fore for far more respectable reasons at the same London stadium on Wednesday. 

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Thirteen years ago after they roamed very different prairies, Declan Kidney and Mark McCall were the two coaches chosen from the dozen present at the Premiership launch to join tournament sponsors Gallagher on the showpiece stage.

Their presence was a reminder that nothing stands still in rugby. Back in 2006, Kidney had just guided Munster to their breakthrough European Cup win while McCall was also enjoying success at Ulster, leading them to Celtic League glory. 

Fast forward all these years later and while the pair are still winning trophies, they are doing so in very different circumstances. McCall is the godfather at Saracens, the figurehead of an English club fresh from collecting its second Premiership and European double inside four seasons. 

Kidney can only aspire that type of dominance, arriving into the Premiership off the back of a Championship title with London Irish, who have one more season in Reading before their new stadium switch to Brentford. The veteran coach is looking to become a success in an English top-flight where the Irish connections aren’t confined to the capital city clubs. 

(Continue reading below…)

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Former Ireland international Geordan Murphy is at the helm at Leicester, his old Test team-mate David Humphreys is Johan Ackermann’s boss at Gloucester, while Samoan Pat Lam is looking to transform Bristol in the same way he did at Connacht, whom he guided to a 2016 PRO12 title. Even Alan Solomons has a shade of green, the South African taking his initial steps on the European club scene with Ulster before he handed over there reigns in Belfast to McCall.  Small world, eh?

Having splashed the cash in a way he could never have done working in the IRFU provincial system, Kidney can’t wait to find out what his first full season of Premiership action holds for him at a club he joined in March 2018 after a five-year spell away from the game after he lost his Ireland Test team job in 2013. 

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“We finished on May 4, which was earlier than anyone else… it’s nearly 20 weeks since we have had a game and you can go a bit brain dead too, you can do all the training that you like but it is only when you get back on the park that you know what is happening.

“Given that the (Premiership) Cup is only around the corner and then the league is only four weeks after that, it will be an important learning curve for us. As the promoted side, to have some cup matches before we actually play the league, I’m hoping it will teach us a lot and we will learn a lot about ourselves.   

“You can have all these three, four, five-year plans that you like but it is important to live in the present… Brentford has potential but only if we do a bit of a job this year. To be in the Premiership when we move to Brentford is an extra prize for us.

“In Munster, you would get ready for a European match but it is like there is a lot of European matches played in the Premiership week in week out. Each week is its own challenge and there is no such thing as picking a match or isolation match. Each one is a big cup game and that is the challenge that I’m looking forward to being a part of.”

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While Kidney is stepping into the unknown, it’s business as usual for serial trophy winner McCall at Saracens. His latest challenge is formulating a plan to cope with having an XV team of players away at the World Cup. 

“We have been looking after a different group. We have got quite a lot of people who aren’t with us – we have 15 players in Japan which is fantastic for the club. That allows us to give all our attention to our younger players and we are very excited about them.

“Last year there were some teams down towards the bottom which nobody expected really and it was a real fight to get into the top four. With London Irish coming up and signing the way they have signed and having an experienced coach like Declan in the ranks…

“You see Bristol come up last year and they are firmly established now – it is going to be an incredibly competitive league anyway and then with who is missing World Cup players, that is going to have an effect that is for sure.”

Seventy-eight Premiership players in total are in Japan for World Cup 2019, the tournament that McCall believes England are primed to do well in even though Kidney was included to give Ireland a free pass for the calamity they encountered at Twickenham only a few weeks ago. 

“From an Irish point of view, it was an accident waiting to happen… the Irish lads won’t be reading too much into as they were both at different parts of their prep. I wouldn’t read too much into these warm-up games,” Kidney claimed.

 

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“It is the best World Cup, the most open for years, and anybody who gets a bit of momentum in it will go a long way. There will be twists and turns along the way – it is the hardest one to call.”

Last word to McCall. “Ireland are a team who on their day can beat anybody. They have proven that over the last two or three seasons, a couple of wins over the All Blacks, the Grand Slam that they had. They are reliant upon not getting injuries to key players but from what I can see England are the team that can probably absorb some injuries.”

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Jon 4 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 6 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

30 Go to comments
A
Adrian 8 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

30 Go to comments
T
Trevor 11 hours ago
Will forgotten Wallabies fit the Joe Schmidt model?

Thanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.

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