DK Has A Pop At DK
13/05/08 07:53 Filed in: Sport
From today's
Indo:
David Knox, The Goys' backs coach is perplexed by Declan Kidney's appointment as Irish national coach.
"The Irish international team badly needed a foreign coach."
Like an Aussie, maybe? One with blond hair?
"Kidney's methods, like making the team train in the away strip they'd be wearing at Gloucester in the Heineken Cup and playing them a tape of the crowd noise at Kingsholm to get them used to the conditions, are bizarre. I would be embarrassed as a coach for people to know that."
Lemme see, who won that quarter-final? Oh yes, it was Munster, wasn't it?
Knox was also heavily critical of Munster's playing style under Kidney. He acknowledges their successes in the Heineken Cup but maintains they have achieved glory in that competition at the expense of any style or flair.
In a straight choice between "glory" and "style or flair", I think I'll pick…hmmm…tough one this…
He also has a go at Ronan O'Gara:
"I have been here, coaching in Ireland for three years, and I have never seen that guy create space for anybody. I've never seen him put anyone into a hole."
And that's the be-all and end-all of everything, is it? Controlling the pace and tempo of the game, gaining field position, etc., means nothing?
"Munster's record is fantastic but you can't tell me they play anything but 10- man rugby."
Come on Dave! Admit it. You're going for the Munster job, aren't you?
"Munster get 30 points on the board by grinding away and when the other team is shot, they try and throw the ball around a bit. Then people say, what a great team. It's rubbish."
Eh, which Irish team is in the final of the Heineken Cup? The only one to get out of their pool this season?
"If Doug Howlett had played for Leinster this season, he would have ended up scoring 30 tries."
And if your Auntie had bollocks, she'd be your uncle. What about your own Galacticos? Any of them score 30 tries this season?
"He's seen as the greatest buy of the year but how often has he touched the ball? Maybe 10 times in a real attacking sense? I'm talking about serious attacking play, not chasing kick-aheads. Yet this is one of the world's premier wings. They have no idea how to use him."
If anything, Howlett's defensive work alone has more than justified what it cost to sign him.
"And the two other guys they brought in from the southern hemisphere, Rua Tipoki and Lifeimi Mafi, hardly ever played Super 14 rugby I think Tipoki made a couple of appearances off the bench. They are both steppers, they never pass the ball."
But they're playing Heineken Cup Rugby at the highest level and will start in the final on Sunday week, while your charges will be sitting on their orses in Kiely's, roysh, necking the Heinos and watching the game.
He goes on to rail against "the paranoid world of Irish [international] rugby", and I actually agree with most of what he says there.
David Knox, The Goys' backs coach is perplexed by Declan Kidney's appointment as Irish national coach.
"The Irish international team badly needed a foreign coach."
Like an Aussie, maybe? One with blond hair?
"Kidney's methods, like making the team train in the away strip they'd be wearing at Gloucester in the Heineken Cup and playing them a tape of the crowd noise at Kingsholm to get them used to the conditions, are bizarre. I would be embarrassed as a coach for people to know that."
Lemme see, who won that quarter-final? Oh yes, it was Munster, wasn't it?
Knox was also heavily critical of Munster's playing style under Kidney. He acknowledges their successes in the Heineken Cup but maintains they have achieved glory in that competition at the expense of any style or flair.
In a straight choice between "glory" and "style or flair", I think I'll pick…hmmm…tough one this…
He also has a go at Ronan O'Gara:
"I have been here, coaching in Ireland for three years, and I have never seen that guy create space for anybody. I've never seen him put anyone into a hole."
And that's the be-all and end-all of everything, is it? Controlling the pace and tempo of the game, gaining field position, etc., means nothing?
"Munster's record is fantastic but you can't tell me they play anything but 10- man rugby."
Come on Dave! Admit it. You're going for the Munster job, aren't you?
"Munster get 30 points on the board by grinding away and when the other team is shot, they try and throw the ball around a bit. Then people say, what a great team. It's rubbish."
Eh, which Irish team is in the final of the Heineken Cup? The only one to get out of their pool this season?
"If Doug Howlett had played for Leinster this season, he would have ended up scoring 30 tries."
And if your Auntie had bollocks, she'd be your uncle. What about your own Galacticos? Any of them score 30 tries this season?
"He's seen as the greatest buy of the year but how often has he touched the ball? Maybe 10 times in a real attacking sense? I'm talking about serious attacking play, not chasing kick-aheads. Yet this is one of the world's premier wings. They have no idea how to use him."
If anything, Howlett's defensive work alone has more than justified what it cost to sign him.
"And the two other guys they brought in from the southern hemisphere, Rua Tipoki and Lifeimi Mafi, hardly ever played Super 14 rugby I think Tipoki made a couple of appearances off the bench. They are both steppers, they never pass the ball."
But they're playing Heineken Cup Rugby at the highest level and will start in the final on Sunday week, while your charges will be sitting on their orses in Kiely's, roysh, necking the Heinos and watching the game.
He goes on to rail against "the paranoid world of Irish [international] rugby", and I actually agree with most of what he says there.