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]
Contents
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 a very poor 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
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External links
- BBC – Kidney in new IRFU Role
- Declan Kidney Factfile Sporting Life
- ESPN Profile
Awards | ||
---|---|---|
Preceded by | IRB International Coach of the Year 2009 |
Succeeded by Graham Henry |
Preceded by | Irish national rugby coach 2008–13 |
Succeeded by Les Kiss |
Preceded by | Munster Rugby coach 2005–08 |
Succeeded by Tony McGahan |
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- ↑ New role for Kidney BBC Sport, 16 February 2004
- ↑ Munster: Heineken Cup Factfile Irish Rugby, 4 April 2008
- ↑ Leinster land Kidney BBC Sport, 26 May 2004
- ↑ Kidney knows it's getting tougher in Heineken Cup RTÉ Sport, 30 October 2001
- ↑ Munster 23–19 Biarritz BBC Sport, 20 May 2006
- ↑ Kidney Confirmed as Manager of the year Irish Rugby, 8 December 2006
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- ↑ McGahan Confirmed as New Munster Coach Irish Rugby
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- ↑ Kidney named Phillips Manager of the Year, RTÉ Sport, 9 December 2009
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- Pages with reference errors
- EngvarB from August 2013
- Use dmy dates from August 2013
- 1959 births
- Living people
- People from Cork (city)
- Irish rugby union players
- Irish schoolteachers
- Irish rugby union coaches
- National team coaches
- Munster Rugby non-playing staff
- Leinster Rugby non-playing staff
- World Rugby Awards winners
- Ireland national rugby union team coaches
- Newport Gwent Dragons coaches
- People educated at Presentation Brothers College, Cork