Kiss and Kidney eager to hit the ground running at London Irish

DECLAN Kidney and Les Kiss, who led Ireland to Six Nations Grand Slam glory in 2009, have been reunited after joining London Irish’s coaching set-up.

Former Ireland head coach Kidney has been appointed technical director, while his old assistant Kiss (below) has been named head coach of an Exiles side that lie bottom of the Aviva Premiership table.

The pair have signed threeyear contracts, which will remain in place irrespective of whether Irish are relegated.

Kidney said: “I’m under no illusions that this is going to be a challenging job. English club rugby is very competitive, and it is going to take several years for us to cement a place at the top end of the Premiership.

“I’m particularly excited to be working with Les Kiss again. We had a great relationship with Ireland and I know that he is the right person to join me on this journey. We can’t wait to get started.”

Kidney oversaw two Heineken Cup triumphs with Munster before taking charge of Ireland from 2008 for a five-year stretch.

Kiss joined a year after Kidney and remained as number two until 2015, when he left to become director of rugby at Ulster.

He added: “Declan is a great person to work with, and I’m looking forward to joining him at London Irish.

“It is a big job for us, but one we are relishing.”