by Brendan Cole
So, who is Declan Kidney, and what can he do for Irish rugby?
Imagine him in a room with another big-time international coach, and then picture Eddie O'Sullivan in the same situation with the same man and you might start to get an idea.
My feeling is that with Eddie O'Sullivan you get a very talented and very intelligent person but one from whom there was always the hint of a caginess that could manifest itself as a slight inferiority complex and paranoia.
With Kidney, I honestly don't have a clue as to what kind of man he is, or how it would go, but I would happily put him in there with any coach in the world and bank on that coach coming out more puzzled and less sure of himself than he was when he came in.
Kidney is like that.
Schools Success
His rugby story begins with his time as a talented schools’ rugby player at PBC Cork, where he won a senior cup medal playing at out-half. His senior playing career included spells with Dolphin and UCC.
After college, he returned to his Alma Mater to coach PBC (and teach maths and career guidance) during the most successful period in their history, overseeing five junior cup wins in six years in the 1980s and then three seniors in a row in the early 1990s.
Ireland Schools’ coaching was next on the agenda, and he excelled at that too. A Triple Crown success in 1993, the under-19s Rugby World Cup victory in 1998, and a 27-25 defeat to New Zealand schools in New Zealand are the highlights of what was, as with PBC, a period of unprecedented success for Irish underage rugby.
Kidney also coached AIL Division Two side Dolphin in this period. Things didn't start off perfectly, with Dolphin narrowly avoiding relegation in his first year thanks to a rules change, but he guided them to the promised land of Division One in 1997.
O'Gara and Stringer
Munster – a job nobody else wanted as he says himself – was next. From 1998 to 2002 he coached old hands like Mick Galwey and Peter Clohessy in the pack and also brought through a talented young pair of half-backs in Ronan O'Gara and Peter Stringer.
While O'Gara had been seen as international quality since his youngest days with Cork Con, Stringer had to be promoted ahead of Brian O'Meara and Tom Tierney, both internationals, into the Munster first XV.
Other coaches might well have balked at putting an unusually small and relatively one dimensional player like Stringer in, but Kidney saw that such a move was the best way to get the most out of O'Gara quickly and moved accordingly.
Two finals – a 9-8 defeat to Northampton in the 1999/2000 season and a 15-9 loss to Leicester in the 'Hand of Back' match of 2001/2002 - were the highlights of that first Munster stint.
'Fortress Thomond'
In terms of progression, Munster learned to win on the road and in France, and established the 'Fortress Thomond' mentality that still stands them in good stead at their home ground. 
Kidney could also claim a close association with their incredible knack for winning the tight ones, including two one-point wins over Saracens in that first season.
After overseeing the birth of the Munster legend and the 'Red Army', he was offered the Ireland assistant coaching job in 2002 and took it, apparently with the carrot of a crack at the head coaching role a few years down the line on offer. It didn’t end well.
By all accounts, Kidney was effectively frozen out by Eddie O'Sullivan, and was largely left to tend to the unfavoured members of Ireland squad (with whom he could easily empathise).
O'Sullivan was offered a four-year contract extension prior to the Rugby World Cup in Australia in 2003 and, seeing the writing on the wall, Kidney moved on soon enough after. He first went to Newport-Gwent Dragons but within three months and having not overseen a single game, was back in Ireland with Leinster.
He guided them to a six-out-of-six record in their pool and top seeding, but it must be remembered that that record was achieved against only one opponent of note in the shape of Bath.
Home and away wins at Benetton Treviso and Bourgoin, who managed just two points in the entire campaign, were even less to write home about back then.
Anaemic
And it must be remembered that Leinster were remarkably anaemic in the quarter-final, going down to Leicester Tigers with barely a whimper at Lansdowne Road (13-29).
Two things – the team selection on the day, and the revelation in the run-up to the game that Kidney had already agreed to return to Munster the following year – are still controversial.
Shane Jennings, who had played well for the province all year but was left out to enable Keith Gleeson to come back in at openside, left for Leicester. Victor Costello was also omitted on the day, with Eric Miller moving from six to eight and Ciaran Potts brought in to blindside.
At the time, Leinster players were said to be upset at how Kidney had made calls about contracts while secretly (or discreetly, depending on your point of view) negotiating a deal that would take him back to his native province. Kidney himself has cited family reasons, namely his mother's illness, as contributory factors in both moves, and both allowed him to move closer to home.
Heineken Cup Win
Back on familiar territory with Munster, he oversaw a Heineken Cup victory in his very first year back with a 23-19 victory over a star-studded Biarritz in the final after beating Leinster comprehensively in the semi.
The next year started brilliantly with a win over Leicester away at Welford Road but unravelled with a defeat against the same opposition at Thomond Park and a loss to Llanelli in the quarter-final putting an end to the title defence. The ship has been righted again, however, and this year's march to the final has without question been the story of this year's tournament.
Munster have played the best rugby and addressed the loss of Trevor Halstead - hugely influential at inside centre in the Heineken Cup-winning year – by moving to a more open and fluid mentality and adding variety to their alignments.
But what about the future? Kidney's coaching character is notoriously difficult to assess. To start off by contrasting him with his predecessor, he can fairly be considered less egotistical and less controlling.
Kidney never seems to feel the need to show he is the smartest boy in the class and is happy enough to give non-answer after non-answer in press conferences. He doesn't rise to baited questions, although a considered response aimed at controlling what is said in media is not beyond him.
He is certainly not good box office as a press conference coach. And in terms of his approach to coaching, he sees himself more as a facilitator and a motivator than a mastermind.
On the field, it is fair to suggest that he would be of the school that sees tactics as a means to an end rather than an end in themselves.
Kidney - A Pragmatist
Ireland arguably fell into the trap of starting a monumentally detailed refinement of their systems under O'Sullivan – it is no accident in retrospect that the longer he had with the Irish team, the worse they tended to perform – and ultimately wound up capable of playing in exactly one style once wearing green. Figured out, and incapable of putting opponents off balance, the journey ended at the same time as the ability to truly invent or innovate.
Kidney's tendencies should see him avoid the same error, and his ability to see rugby as a game that is won and lost in 80 minutes rather than a more idealistic endeavour is a trait well suited to the high level. A pragmatist in the best sense of the word, and one whom nobody has yet managed to figure out fully, he will keep people guessing.
Kidney has managed to surprise at every level in his rugby career so far, and if that is not exactly what Ireland need, then I don't know what is.
