Kirwan throws hat into the Force field

[tdevil]

All Blacks great John Kirwan has added his name to the list of contenders for the vacant Western Force coaching job.

Kirwan, who was in charge of Italy at the 2003 Rugby World Cup and Japan in the 2007 and 2011 tournaments, is understood to have applied after the shock defection of Richard Graham to Super Rugby rivals the Queensland Reds.

Kirwan, a strong disciplinarian, parted ways with Japan after last year's World Cup and is currently preparing the Barbarians for their match against Wales next month.

The 47-year-old is also understood to have had talks with another struggling club, the Auckland Blues, where he has been an assistant coach and manager.

Two of Kirwan's former All Black teammates, Gary Whetton and Andy Dalton, are the Blues' chairman and chief executive respectively and are said to be keen to bring him back. The 63-Test winger played most of his internationals with the pair.

Force management has put together a shortlist of candidates to replace Graham and will begin the formal selection process this week.

The list of hopefuls includes Michael Cheika, who is in charge of French Top 14 club Stade Francais, former Force assistant coach John Mulvihill, interim coach Phil Blake and ex-Wallabies assistant Tim Lane. Former Reds coach Phil Mooney, in Brisbane at Wests after a stint with Otago in New Zealand, and former Brumbies coach Andy Friend are also believed to be interested.

However, Force chief executive Vern Reid, who has returned from South Africa where the Force lost both tour matches to the Cheetahs and Sharks, denied reports that he had meetings with Sharks coach John Plumtree while in Durban.

Kirwan made 96 appearances for the All Backs including 63 Tests from 1984-1994 scoring 35 Test tries, a New Zealand record. He also scored 199 first-class tries.

He spent two seasons in the Australian Rugby League with the Auckland Warriors before returning to union with Japan's NEC.

He revealed his battle with depression in his book All Blacks Don't Cry.

Meanwhile, the Force are monitoring the fitness of flanker Matt Hodgson as they prepare for Sunday's Australian derby against the Melbourne Rebels at nib Stadium.

Hodgson was dropped onto his back after being lifted at a line-out in the first half against the Sharks. He finished the game but was still in pain when the team arrived back in Perth yesterday.

He suffered concussion the previous week against the Cheetahs.

Another flanker, Richard Brown, who was substituted at half-time against the Sharks with a corked thigh, should be fit while his back-row partner Ben McCalman, who is expected to renew his contract with the Force, should also be available after missing the South African tour with shoulder nerve damage.

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/spo...e-force-field/

Interesting that the article doesn't mention Louden???

[zed]

Kirwan would be a good option.

[The InnFORCEr]

You would think he would favour the Blues though.

Cheika for mine

[wqerti]

It's a good news. It's either Kirwan or Cheika now. Personally, I think Kirwan has more experience and might be a better option for force.

[blue]

Kirwan would be the best fit, excellant job with Japan at 2 world cups. Also he would be a drawcard for players, whereas Cheika would not be as big a drawcard. Cheika did not have a good time in Paris.

[benny]

Kirwan = 99.9%
Cheika = 0.01%, over night he has been sacked by S.F due to relegation threats, do we really want another 'average coach with average results' ??

[The InnFORCEr]

Do any of you really believe we could put a better case forward to Kirwin than the Blues could?

It's a nice dream, but that's all. However I'd be equally happy to be wrong

[zed]

Do any of you really believe we could put a better case forward to Kirwin than the Blues could?

It's a nice dream, but that's all. However I'd be equally happy to be wrong

The thing is, if he goes to the Blues he will be expected to get results and by that I mean semi-finals and winning 80% of their games. If he came to the Force he wouldn't be under so much pressure and there would not be that massive expectation of success. With the players at his disposal with the Blues, anything other than a top 4 finish would be deemed a failure. Possibly why he took both the Japan & Italy coaching jobs, he knows the public expect his team to lose most games, any wins, especially against decent opposition and he's declared a coaching genius.

[The InnFORCEr]

The thing is, if he goes to the Blues he will be expected to get results and by that I mean semi-finals and winning 80% of their games. If he came to the Force he wouldn't be under so much pressure and there would not be that massive expectation of success. With the players at his disposal with the Blues, anything other than a top 4 finish would be deemed a failure. Possibly why he took both the Japan & Italy coaching jobs, he knows the public expect his team to lose most games, any wins, especially against decent opposition and he's declared a coaching genius.

Bollocks, our expectations are no different to the Blues and with a team of which over 2/3rds will have played Wallabies there is no reason why our expectations shouldn't be that high IMHO

[zed]

Bollocks, our expectations are no different to the Blues and with a team of which over 2/3rds will have played Wallabies there is no reason why our expectations shouldn't be that high IMHO

There is a big difference between someone that ran on for 20 mins against Canada and a 60 test veteran, still in his prime. Cameron Shephard got his caps through injuries, Nathan Sharp was at his prime before he got to the Force, as was Matt Giiteau. Bathlomueze played for Australia for 4 mins (literally). You look at teams like the Crusaders who have in the past fielded a team with every player a current All Black plus a bench with All Blacks and you realistically expect the Force to regularly knock off teams like that? Perhaps the occasional win, yes, but until we have a team of players that are brimming with youth, talent and international experience then we have to be realistic. And when I say international experience, I don't mean a player at the nadir of his career. Thinking we should be aiming for the semis with the team we have got now or even in the past is delusional. We have never had a semi-final team.

[The InnFORCEr]

Expectations are still equal, turn a losing team into a winning team

[Sheikh]

I'd very much approve of Kirwan, but with Pat Lam likely for the chop unless he pulls out an outstanding run of wins, will we end up the bridesmaid?

[PerthChicka]

Interesting that the article doesn't mention Louden???

Very interesting indeed! And not in a good way, unless someone is deliberately trying to throw the press off the scent??

I notice too that the article says that Benny Mac is expected to re-sign (note the hyphen!!!) with the Force soon. I thought he was contracted until 2013 already???

[The InnFORCEr]

http://twf.com.au/showthread.php?t=28689

April 2011 he signed a two year deal, so they are probably talking about extending contract

[James]

Either that or a 1 + 1. I'm surprised the Rebels haven't push for that one.