Declan Kidney

Declan Kidney (born 20 October 1959 in Ballincollig, County Cork) is the former head coach of the Ireland national rugby union team.[1][2]

Declan Kidney

Early life

Kidney played rugby for UCC and later for Dolphin RFC. He studied to become a mathematics teacher,[3] in which position he was appointed at Presentation Brothers College, Cork, and later became the career guidance officer.

He took on the role of rugby coach at the school, where he had initial success as coach of the junior and later senior side.[4]

Coaching career

Early career

Following his coaching of the Irish Schools team, Kidney coached the Ireland under 19s team which won the FIRA World Cup in 1998.[5] After this Tournament he joined Munster.[6]

His initial stint at Munster ended in 2002, when he left to become Ireland's assistant coach. He was replaced at Munster by Alan Gaffney.

In the summer of 2004, he became coach at Newport Gwent Dragons. However, in August 2004, after only 3 months in the job, he left to join Leinster.[7]

Success with Munster

He rejoined Munster in 2005, winning the Heineken Cup in his first season back, after losing in both 2000 and 2002 in the final.[8][9] After this win, Kidney was awarded the 2006 Philips Sports Manager of the Year award,[10] and on 24 May 2008, his Munster squad won the Heineken Cup once again.[11]

Ireland

Kidney was succeeded as Munster coach in July 2008 by Tony McGahan,[12] when Kidney became the Irish national coach. He coached the Irish team to the Grand Slam and Triple Crown in Cardiff's Millennium Stadium on 21 March 2009, in his first year as head coach.[13] In June 2009, coached Ireland Wolfhounds, then known as Ireland A, to their first Churchill Cup.

On 28 November 2009, he was awarded IRB Coach of the Year.[14] On 9 December 2009, he was awarded Phillips Manager of the Year for the third time in four years, beating Brian Cody, John Oxx and Giovanni Trapattoni to the title.[15] He led Ireland to the quarter finals of the 2011 Rugby World Cup, where they were defeated 22–10 by Wales.[16]

Ireland's international fortunes declined after 2009 with a poor string of results, which was the antithesis to the success of its provinces Leinster, Ulster, Connacht and Munster. They suffered their heaviest defeat in history and slipped to their worst IRB World Ranking of 9th. After finishing 5th in the 2013 Six Nations Championship, the IRFU, on 2 April 2013, took the decision to terminate Kidney's contract.[17][18][19][20]

UCC

In August 2013, Kidney was appointed as the Director of Sport and Physical Activity at UCC.[21]

Honours

Munster

Celtic League (1): 2002/03

Heineken Cup (2): 2005/06, 2007/08

Ireland

IRB Under 19 Rugby World Championship (1) 1998

Churchill Cup (1): 2009

Triple Crown (1): 2009

Six Nations Championship (1): 2009 (Grand Slam)

Individual

IRB International Coach of the Year 2009

References

  1. ↑ "Declan Kidney Confirmed As New Ireland Coach". Irish Rugby. 7 May 2008. Archived from the original on 10 May 2008. Retrieved 7 May 2008.
  2. ↑ "Ireland appoint Kidney as coach". BBC Sport. 7 May 2008. Retrieved 7 May 2008.
  3. ↑ "Ireland's coach in waiting". This is London. 8 April 2008. Retrieved 7 May 2008.
  4. ↑ "The Return of the Prodigal Son". redgrouper.com. October 2005. Retrieved 7 May 2008.
  5. ↑ New role for Kidney BBC Sport, 16 February 2004
  6. ↑ Munster: Heineken Cup Factfile Irish Rugby, 4 April 2008
  7. ↑ Leinster land Kidney BBC Sport, 26 May 2004
  8. ↑ Kidney knows it's getting tougher in Heineken Cup RTÉ Sport, 30 October 2001
  9. ↑ Munster 23–19 Biarritz BBC Sport, 20 May 2006
  10. ↑ Kidney Confirmed as Manager of the year Irish Rugby, 8 December 2006
  11. ↑ "2008 Heineken Cup final". BBC Sport. 24 May 2008. Retrieved 23 March 2009.
  12. ↑ McGahan Confirmed as New Munster Coach Irish Rugby
  13. ↑ "2009 Six Nations". BBC Sport. 22 March 2009. Retrieved 22 March 2009.
  14. ↑ "IRB awards for McCaw, South Africa & Kidney". BBC Sport. 28 November 2009. Retrieved 30 November 2009.
  15. ↑ Kidney named Phillips Manager of the Year, RTÉ Sport, 9 December 2009
  16. ↑ "Major opportunity lost as superb Welsh slam door shut". Irish Independent. 10 October 2011. Retrieved 10 October 2011.
  17. ↑ "IRFU Announce Decision Not To Offer Declan Kidney New Contract". irishrugby.ie. 2 April 2013. Retrieved 2 April 2013.
  18. ↑ "Declan Kidney sacked as Ireland coach". Irish Independent. 2 April 2013. Retrieved 4 April 2013.
  19. ↑ "Ewen McKenzie favourite to replace Ireland coach Declan Kidney". Daily Telegraph. 2 April 2013. Retrieved 4 April 2013.
  20. ↑ "Declan Kidney sacked as Ireland rugby union coach". BBC Sport. 2 April 2013. Retrieved 4 April 2013.
  21. ↑ "Declan Kidney appointed Director of Sport at UCC". Irish Independent. 22 August 2013. Retrieved 22 August 2013.
Awards
Preceded by
Graham Henry		 IRB International Coach of the Year
2009 		Succeeded by
Graham Henry
Preceded by
Republic of Ireland Eddie O'Sullivan		 Irish national rugby coach
2008–13 		Succeeded by
Australia Les Kiss
Preceded by
Alan Gaffney		 Munster Rugby coach
2005–08 		Succeeded by
Tony McGahan
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