NO COMPLAINTS
IRFU happy at manner of Plumtree departure to Hurricanes
MICHAEL KEARNEY has insisted the IRFU are not angry at losing forwards coach John Plumtree to Super 15 side Hurricanes after just one year with Ireland. The Kiwi’s deal was due to run until the summer of 2016 but the Wellingtonbased club have enticed him back before he could see it out. It was announced before Ireland flew out to Argentina last Sunday that Plumtree was to quit after a highly successful first season for family reasons.
However, despite leaving with alternative employment already lined up to assist his move home, the Ireland team manager claimed the union had no grievance with the manner in which the Hurricanes snapped up their valued staff member.
‘No, I don’t think so. Not at all,’ he said, when asked if there was an issue with the New Zealand franchise who weren’t interested last year when Plumtree was a free agent after being sacked by the Sharks in Durban.
However, they were quick to seek him after he became a Six Nations title winner in March.
‘There certainly wouldn’t be any issue from our point of view on that,’ Kearney added. ‘It’s very much a family decision by John and we fully respect that even though we are very disappointed to lose him.’
Plumtree had turned Ireland’s misfiring lineout into the best in the tournament as they came from fifth place in 2013 to win this year’s Six Nations.
His contribution with the pack was heralded as very important by coach Joe Schmidt but having spent last summer scouring the globe in search of an assistant to help chart Ireland’s progress through to summer 2016 at the minimum, the Ireland head coach must now return to the market.
Despite Ireland enhancing their reputation by becoming Six Nations champions, the looming search for Plumtree’s successor is believed to potentially be more difficult on this occasion as a number of the candidates Schmidt considered, and spoke to 12 months ago, are now locked into contracts. ‘There were others he had spoken to last year before John came on-board but my understanding is that those people are now tied in to two- and three-year contracts at various different clubs so it’s unlikely that the candidate will come from last year’s list as such,’ Kearney explained.
‘Joe has got to do due diligence on it now, wait and see what comes up. There would be a number of agents who would have people on their books who may be unhappy where they are, so that could be another option. There are different avenues that you can look.
‘It [Ireland forwards coach] has always been an attractive job. We have a good pack of forwards and are building up some depth as well which will accelerate a bit now on this particular tour.
‘It has always been an attractive and well-sought after job. The timing [of the vacancy] probably isn’t ideal but knowing Joe the way I do, I’m sure he will come up with the right man at the end of the day.’
The plan is to have a replacement in place by September, giving the new man a 12-month lead-in to the 2015 World Cup.
‘In an ideal world you would probably like to have someone who has some knowledge of the Irish system and the Irish players, but again this time of year a lot of coaches would be tied into contracts and there wouldn’t be that many just readily available,’ continued Kearney.
‘It’s a question of Joe just doing his homework, having a god look around, taking a bit of time and making the right decision rather than rushing into a wrong decision. It’s more important to get the right person than get a person quickly. If we get him in by September we will be doing okay.’