Declan Kidney (born 20 October 1959) is an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

rugby union coach. He was the head coach of the

Ireland national rugby union team The Ireland national rugby union team is the men's representative national team for the island of Ireland in rugby union. The team represents both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Ireland competes in the annual Six Nations Champi ...

from 2008 to 2013, where he won the 2009 Six Nations with a Grand Slam, winning the 2009 IRB Coach of the Year award. He was also the head coach at

Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following the ...

, leading them to four Heineken Cup finals, winning twice in 2006 and 2008. He is currently Director of Rugby at

London Irish London Irish RFC is a professional rugby union club which competes in the Premiership, the top division of English rugby union. The club has also competed in the Anglo-Welsh Cup, the European Champions Cup and European Challenge Cup. While ...

Early life

Kidney was born in Bishopstown,

County Cork County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns are ...

. He played rugby for

UCC The initialism UCC may stand for: Law * Uniform civil code of India, referring to proposed Civil code in the legal system of India, which would apply equally to all irrespective of their religion * Uniform Commercial Code, a 1952 uniform act to ...

and later for

Dolphin RFC Dolphin Rugby Football Club is a rugby union club in Cork. It was founded in 1902, by members of Dolphin Swimming Club seeking to find a wintertime activity. They play in Division 2A of the All-Ireland League. Former Irish Coach, Declan Kidn ...

. He studied to become an accounting and mathematics teacher, in which position he was appointed at

Presentation Brothers College, Cork Presentation Brothers College (PBC Cork) ( ga, Coláiste na Toirbhirte; colloquially known as Pres) is a Catholic, boys, private fee-paying secondary school in Cork, Ireland. Presentation Brothers College is currently ranked as the number one boy ...

, 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.

Coaching career

Youth and professional

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

. 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 Dragons RFC ( cy, Dreigiau) are one of the four professional rugby union regional teams in Wales. They are owned by the Welsh Rugby Union and play their home games at Rodney Parade, Newport and at other grounds around the region. They play in ...

. However, in August 2004, after only 3 months in the job, he left to join

Leinster Leinster ( ; ga, Laighin or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, situated in the southeast and east of Ireland. The province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige. Following the 12th-century Norman invasion of Ir ...

. He rejoined Munster in 2005, winning the

Heineken Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Heineken Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

in his first season back, after losing in both 2000 and 2002 in the final. After this win, Kidney was awarded the 2006 ''Philips Sports Manager of the Year'' award, and on 24 May 2008, his Munster squad won the

once again.

Ireland (2008–2013)

He coached the Irish team to the

Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

and Triple Crown in 2009, in his first year as head coach. In June 2009, coached

Ireland Wolfhounds The Ireland Wolfhounds (formerly Ireland A and Ireland B) are the second national rugby union team of Ireland, behind the Ireland national team. They previously competed in the Churchill Cup together with the England Saxons, the national teams ...

, then known as Ireland A, to their first

Churchill Cup The Churchill Cup was an annual rugby union tournament, held in June, contested by representative men's (and formerly women's) teams from Canada, England, the United States, and other invited teams (originally one and later three) from a wide arr ...

. He was awarded the 2009 IRB Coach of the Year. He was also awarded the 2009 ''Phillips Manager of the Year'' for the third time in four years, beating

Brian Cody Brian Cody (born 12 July 1954) is an Irish former hurling manager and player and retired schoolmaster. He managed the senior Kilkenny county team between 1998 and 2022, becoming the county's longest-serving manager and most successful in term ...

John Oxx John M. Oxx (born 14 July 1950) is a retired Irish trainer of thoroughbred racehorses. By the end of the 2009 season Oxx had trained 35 Group One winners over his career, including the winners of 11 Classic races. He is best known as the traine ...

and

Giovanni Trapattoni Giovanni Trapattoni (; born 17 March 1939), sometimes popularly known as "Trap" or "Il Trap", is an Italian football manager and former player, considered the most successful club coach of Italian football. A former defensive midfielder, as a p ...

to the title. Ireland's international fortunes declined after 2009 with a poor string of results, which was the antithesis to the success of its provinces

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United King ...

Connacht Connacht ( ; ga, Connachta or ), is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, Conmhaícne, and Delbhn ...

and

. In 2011 and Kidney led Ireland to the

quarter finals A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

of the

2011 Rugby World Cup The 2011 Rugby World Cup was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japan and South Af ...

, at which Ireland recorded their first-ever clean sweep of their pool, including Ireland's first-ever win at a world cup against a major rugby nation (Australia). A series of poor game management decisions by senior players saw them defeated 22–10 by

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. Ireland suffered their heaviest defeat in history in 2012 going down by 60–0 against New Zealand, and by 2013 had slipped to their worst

IRB World Ranking The World Rugby Rankings (formerly the IRB Rankings) is a ranking system for national teams in rugby union, managed by World Rugby, the sport's governing body. There are separate men's and women's rankings. The teams of World Rugby's member nation ...

of ninth when Ireland suffered a string of injuries to key players, the likes of which Ireland has not suffered previously nor suffered since. After finishing fifth in the 2013 Six Nations Championship, which included an historic loss to Italy, the

IRFU The Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) ( ga, Cumann Rugbaí na hÉireann) is the body managing rugby union in the island of Ireland (both Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland). The IRFU has its head office at 10/12 Lansdowne Road and home ...

, on 2 April 2013, decided to terminate Kidney's contract. Kidney finished with a record of 28 wins, 3 draws and 22 defeats.

UCC

In August 2013, Kidney was appointed as the Director of Sport and Physical Activity at

London Irish

Kidney joined

in March 2018 as technical consultant. The roles reunited Kidney with

Les Kiss Les Kiss (born 9 December 1964) is an Australian professional rugby union coach who is the head coach of London Irish in the Gallagher Premiership. He is a former professional rugby league footballer who played in the Brisbane Rugby League and ...

who was appointed head coach on the same day. He later became Director of Rugby on 22 May 2018 following the resignation of

Nick Kennedy Nick Kennedy (born 19 August 1982) is a retired English rugby union player and former Director of Rugby at London Irish. He played Lock for England, London Irish, Toulon and Harlequins. His uncle Duncan Kennedy is a BBC news correspondent. K ...

Honours

;Munster *

Celtic League The Celtic League is a pan-Celtic organisation, founded in 1961, that aims to promote modern Celtic identity and culture in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, Cornwall and the Isle of Man – referred to as the Celtic nations; it places part ...

(1): 2002/03 *

(2): 2005/06, 2007/08 ;Ireland * IRB

Under 19 Rugby World Championship The IRB under-19 Rugby World Cup was the premier tournament for male rugby union players under the age of 19 organised by the sports governing body the International Rugby Board (IRB) annually from 2004 until 2007. Both it and the Under 21 Rugby Wo ...

(1) 1998 *

(1):

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

Triple Crown Triple Crown may refer to: Sports Horse racing * Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing * Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing (United States) ** Triple Crown Trophy ** Triple Crown Productions * Canadian Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing * Trip ...

(1):

Six Nations Championship The Six Nations Championship (known as the Guinness Six Nations for sponsorship reasons) is an annual international men's rugby union competition between the teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. The current champions ar ...

(1):

(Grand Slam) ;Individual *

IRB International Coach of the Year The World Rugby Coach of the Year is awarded by the World Rugby World Rugby is the world governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable c ...

2009 ;London Irish *

RFU Championship The RFU Championship is an English rugby union competition comprising twelve clubs. It is the second level of men’s English rugby and is played by both professional and semi-professional players. The competition has existed since 1987, when ...

(1) 2018-19 RFU Championship

References

External links

BBC – Kidney in new IRFU Role
Sporting Life * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kidney, Declan 1959 births Living people Rugby union players from County Cork Irish rugby union players Irish schoolteachers Irish rugby union coaches Munster Rugby non-playing staff Leinster Rugby non-playing staff World Rugby Awards winners Ireland national rugby union team coaches Dragons RFC coaches People educated at Presentation Brothers College, Cork