It’s an interesting sign of the times that instead of providing a dash of early-season glamour and excitement, these days I’m more inclined to view the November international series as a tedious and unwelcome interruption to the ‘real’ season…
Still there isn’t much to be done about it, and in fairness the squad announcement contained a nugget of interest for IRFU kremlinologists, with the announcement that Anthony Foley was to be elevated to Ireland’s defence coach, with Les Kiss, the erstwhile defence coach, switching to coach attack.
Foley was a great player, but his coaching experience is scant – a couple of seasons coaching Munster ‘A’, and a couple of seasons as an assistant coach at Munster (during which time Munster’s form has distinctly ticked down) sound to me an unlikely springboard to an international gig.
As ever with the IRFU / Ireland ticket, it’s difficult to know who is doing exactly what at whose behest, but two scenarios spring to my mind.
1) Declan doubles down.. The theory is as follows: Kidney had his success back in the pre-ELV years, playing a dour but effective territorial, forward-oriented game, and has been trying to replicate this ever since; in Gert Smal he has a man after his own heart, and in Foley he has one of the stalwarts of his successful campaigns between 2005 and 2008. And fast-tracking an inexperienced Munsterman through to a position with the national side is certainly in keeping with his player selection policy over the years… Having had to bring Kiss across to double-job and cover attack, under pressure from the IRFU (and the outside world) in an attempt to up Ireland’s game after a poor world cup, is this his attempt to ensure that whatever Kiss might cook up with his full-time brief, the Kidney philosophy of territorial kicking and narrow, attritional rugby remains the bedrock of Ireland’s tactics?
2) The IRFU’s free roll of the dice. This theory goes as follows: Kidney is toast, and under any circumstances he will be gone the minute his contract expires; the IRFU are therefore more or less actively measuring up replacements. However these are straitened times, and in any event the IRFU will always prefer an incremental solution, featuring insiders, than making a radical cut with the past, particularly if this involves potentially pushy or independently-minded outsiders. So why not give Kiss an expanded role, and bring Foley, a guy who is already on the payroll (and whose current boss, by all accounts, won’t be donning sackcloth and ashes at his departure..) in to shore up the defence systems? Yes he isn’t experienced, but where’s the downside here? If the autumn series and 2013 6 Nations goes badly, well that’s pretty much par for the course these days, and we revert to plan ‘A’, i.e. replacing the lot of them post-6 Nations; if on the other hand things pan out successfully, well what do you know, we have the ready-made core of the next Ireland ticket – say, for example, Kiss head (& backs) coach, Foley forwards coach, poach Jonny Bell from Ulster to coach defence. And all for a bargain basement price! What’s not to like??!!
Who knows.. In truth, I don’t think either scenario is particularly favourable for Kidney; the Foley/Kiss announcements took up more of the press release of the squad announcement than the actual players, and more than ever before we have the coaches’ responsibilities laid out in detail. Smal looks after the forwards, Kiss the attack, Foley defence and Feek the scrum – it begs the question, what does Kidney do? Press conferences? Standing on the touchline with an Ireland beanie on? The shopping?
I’m hoping for scenario 2 – I’m unconvinced by Foley’s credentials, certainly at this early stage in his career, but Ireland desperately need new ideas, and to the extent that this frees Les Kiss’s hands to implement drastic change to Ireland’s tactics and offensive patterns (assuming he is capable of doing so – I have heard that he is well-esteemed by the players, but things fell apart more than a little in New Zealand..) then that can only be a good thing.
I think Kidney is a dead man walking, regardless of what happens over the next few weeks or next February/March. At a time when Irish rugby should be in rude, feel-good health, with Leinster having beaten all comers for the last number of years, Ulster (touch wood) having turned the corner and looking like a serious force, and even though Munster might have more question marks hanging over them on the pitch, they remain a tough nut to crack, and have established a wide support base and strong brand. However, far from a feel-good factor surrounding the Ireland team, it seems more to me like a feel-bad factor hangs overhead – poor performances and results, pitifully low expectations, and languishing in the international rankings (with Ireland having to juke it out with Argentina to hold onto the eighth spot).
And it seems to me that Kidney’s Ireland has lost the fans. A scan of Irish rugby forums and blogs will see the centre of gravity of opinion hovering somewhere between ‘disenchanted’ and ‘hostile’. There are those who believe that the current coaching ticket deserve another chance (once again!), but fans who give the impression that they are genuinely excited about the path Ireland is on – as opposed to those who are simply arguing in favour of Kidney through habit/ingrained low expectations/an excess of conservatism, or some Munster fans through a residual sense of loyalty – are few, if any exist at all. And this shows up in ticket sales – long gone are the days when, following the Slam in 2009, Ireland drew crowds of 70,000+ to Croke Park for consecutive autumn series (including a test against Argentina); incredibly Ireland have yet to sell out the Aviva Stadium (capacity 51,000) outside of the 6 Nations – even the last visit of New Zealand played out in front of 5,000 empty seats.
The malaise of the Irish team, and ennui among Irish rugby fans, will concern the IRFU above all if it hits it in the pocket – and a few days before the South Africa test, tickets are still available to buy on the IRFU website… But more than that, I can well imagine that by this stage, the IRFU blazers are thoroughly sick of Ireland getting beaten, while their provincial counter-parts swan about Europe winning stuff and being treated with respect. My friend Mike (mikerob of the UAFC parish) was telling me about the morning after Ireland’s insipid exit of the world cup at the hands of Wales, the Welsh blazers were having great auld craic the next morning at the breakfast table in the hotel, while the Irish blazers filed out past them, grim-faced and sick to the teeth. Returning to New Zealand over the summer won’t have made them feel much better, with the Ireland team widely treated in the local media as not much more than a joke – which if the series had ended after the second test, might have felt a little disrespectful, but in the event was fully merited, and I imagine they couldn’t get away fast enough after the third test, with the laughter of an entire country ringing in their ears.
Anyway, let’s hope that this series marks some kind of improvement on June. It’s depressing that a home victory against an injury-depleted South Africa side, themselves in no outstanding run of form, having finished third from 4 in the presumptuously-titled Rugby Championship, winning just 2 games and scraping a draw away to Argentina, will seem to many Irish fans as an outstanding achievement! Such is our depleted belief … Whatever happens, we’ll be back to the ‘real’ season soon enough, with ‘real’ teams that we actually care about!
Corrections, comments or questions?