Eddie walks the plank
20 Mar 2008
Ireland are looking for a new head coach after Eddie O’Sullivan quit the job.
O’Sullivan was expected to be fired after a disappointing Six Nations campaign that saw Ireland lose three matches, but jumped before he was pushed.
He was appointed coach of Ireland in 2001 (replacing Warren Gatland) and helped plot the downfall of top teams like the Boks, Wallabies and England during his seven-year stint. However, Ireland failed to win the Six Nations while he was in charge – blowing a golden opportunity in 2007. They reached the quarter-finals of the 2003 World Cup, but failed to progress past the pool stage last year. O’Sullivan was offered a new four-year contract just before the 2007 World Cup, and has probably struck a compensation deal with the Irish Rugby Union.
“At the conclusion of the Six Nations championship and having given my role as national team head coach much consideration, I have come to the decision to step down,” O’Sullivan said in a statement. “In doing so I would like to thank my management team and all the players that I have worked with during my tenure as Irish coach.
He also thanked the IRFU for its support and wished the Ireland team well.
Meanwhile, new England flyhalf Danny Cipriani has predictably backed Brian Ashton to continue as head coach. Ashton met with the RFU’s elite rugby director Rob Andrew at Twickenham on Tuesday as part of the RFU’s standard tournament review.
“I just want what’s best for Brian and if he wants to continue, which I know he does, he would relish it and be phenomenal,” said Cipriani, who has known Ashton since he was 16. “I think his ideas are very good and I really respond to the way he thinks. Obviously I’d like to have Brian around because I’ve known him for so long and I feel things have gone well.”
If Ashton is sacked, Jake White would probably become England’s new head coach.
13 Comments
20 Mar 2008, 07:25 am
Dragons!
20 Mar 2008, 07:27 am
Sorry, could not make up any smart *** comment to go with the dreaded d word this time. It was always going to be the end for the loser last Saturday, as it is I thinkAshton is on borrowed time.
20 Mar 2008, 07:30 am
Good! Now they can get a good coach too like Wales and start being a force in world rugby again!
20 Mar 2008, 07:32 am
O I so wish Jake White get the job!
20 Mar 2008, 07:35 am
Jaaaaaaa more Koos.
Reen kliphard hier in die Tsitsikama woude. Wonder of ek moet gaan werk.
JW for England coach!
20 Mar 2008, 07:36 am
Praat ek weer met myself.
20 Mar 2008, 07:36 am
White won’t take the Irish job. It is the Poms or bust for him.
20 Mar 2008, 08:06 am
Loosehead
JW is too busy counting the proceeds from his book.
He has alreay made R14m from it, I hear.
20 Mar 2008, 08:14 am
KEO (et al)
Rumours of White making upwards of R14 million in book sale proceeds abound on this site.
Seeing as how there’s transparency regarding the Bok coach’s salary in the media, any chance of getting a breakdown of White’s book deal?
Would be interested to learn:
1) How many books have been sold.
2) What percentage of cover price White and Ray actually receive.
20 Mar 2008, 08:17 am
White will never coach the Irish. There’s bad blood there… according to his book.
20 Mar 2008, 09:29 am
I do not regard EOS as a failure, well actually I do but the truth is BOD made him look better than he is and now that BOD is hasbeen the Paddies are now back to reality – a minnow.
20 Mar 2008, 10:44 am
Ireland’s success had very little to do with him and was mainly down to the excellent work done by Gatland.
Ireland must be kicking themselves now for getting rid of Gatland. Main reason they got rid of him was because he wasn’t Irish.
20 Mar 2008, 11:37 am
One can say all they want about Jake,I dont like the man myself after especially at the end of his tenure with Makaivellian ways….
but the man is a shrewd business….
R14 million is a nice little kitty
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