O'Sullivan resigns as Ireland coach

[no.8]

Eddie O'Sullivan resigned Wednesday night as Ireland rugby coach after his talented, highly regarded squad suffered back-to-back flops at the World Cup and Six Nations tournaments.

O'Sullivan, 49, had led Ireland since 2001 to its best results in the modern era. His reward was a new four-year contract before last year's World Cup in France.

But since then it's been all downhill for O'Sullivan, capped Saturday by a 33-10 drubbing at the hands of the old enemy, England. That gave Ireland a fourth-place finish in the Six Nations, its worst result since 1999.

In a statement released, O'Sullivan thanked his players, fans and the Irish Rugby Football Union for standing by him during the past year's largely disappointing results. He expressed his hope that the team would excel again "in a professional sport that is becoming more demanding and competitive by the day."

Only a year ago, O'Sullivan was considered one of the rising managerial stars in world rugby. His new contract even contained a clause allowing him to take time off from the job if he was appointed to coach the British and Irish Lions in 2009 — an extremely unlikely prospect now.

He received the contract on the back of his team's consistent growth, achieving three Triple Crown wins and narrowly missing out on Grand Slams in 2006 and 2007. Ireland achieved a No. 3 world ranking in late 2006 and early 2007.

But the World Cup that summer proved a disaster for O'Sullivan and Ireland, which turned inexplicably sloppy and complacent. For only the second time in World Cup play, Ireland failed to advance from its pool, eking out embarrassingly close wins against minnows Namibia and Georgia and losing to France and Argentina.

Ireland started out its Six Nations campaign in similarly tepid form, relying on luck to beat the tournament's perennial doormat, Italy. Losses to France, Wales and England followed. Yet immediately after Saturday's hammering at Twickenham, O'Sullivan insisted he had no intention of quitting.

"I believe I am the right man to lead Irish rugby," O'Sullivan said then. "I think the question for me is: Have I got the hunger for this job? And the answer to that is absolutely, 100 percent."

The early favorite to succeed O'Sullivan is Declan Kidney, the coach of Irish side Munster.

[brokendown gunfighter]

& all this time I thought Ed O' Sullivan was a US tv show host


silly me

[GIGS20]

Kinda explains why he sucked at coaching rugby

[Thequeerone]

That's unfair GIGS20 - there were many achievements during his 10 year tenure - the problem has been the last 6 months - all Irish supporters were bitterly disappointed with the RWC performance - unfortunately apart from the second half of the French game the 6Nations was a disaster to - times have changed - time for a new coach - my preference is for a Kiwi one - worked for the Welsh, and might even work for

[AndyS]

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCbuRA_D3KU[/YOUTUBE]

[Thequeerone]

when watching the above - Beaker is Eddie O'Sullivan - the Swedish Chef guessing Ronan O' Gara - and animal well that would be Brian O' Driscoll

but this is the tribute from the Irish Independent - which sums up O'Sullivans Career achievements - hoping the IRB doesn't ask Eddie Jones to help em

The end of Eddie O'Sullivan's reign was swift and ruthless after a decline which had been painstakingly slow and tortuous. It need not have been so, had it not been for either the vapidity of the IRFU or the single-mindedness of their head coach.

Unfortunately, it was a combination of the IRFU's foolhardiness and O'Sullivan's sheer bloody-mindedness -- ironically a trait which served him so well in the good times -- which did for the coach in the end.

What was once such a beautiful marriage should not have ended in such a grisly divorce.

Eddie O'Sullivan's seven-year reign as Irish coach concluded last night but in essence the die had been cast well before that, effectively when Wales ensured a critical home defeat in Croke Park nine days ago.

However, it is now clear that by refusing to sanction any of the changes sought by their own independent review into a World Cup fiasco which laid the blame firmly at the head coach's door, the IRFU had already laid down a marker -- even before a ball was kicked in this year's Six Nations championship.

That campaign produced the worst championship finish of O'Sullivan's reign, indeed the worst since 1999, hence heralding the brief series of events which led to last night's confirmation that the most successful era in Irish rugby had drawn to a close.

[prop53]

but all good things must come to a end, they will raise again.

[ozhammy]

O'Sullivan reaped the hard work put in by Warren Gatland who was prematurely evicted to make way for him... Good revenge in Dublin and securing a Grand Slam for Wales... Whoever comes in now is lining the way for skills coach Brian McLaughlin to eventually take the reigns... An Ulsterman