Sean Farrell reports from Cardiff
FORTY THREE POINTS. The scale of Ireland’s defeat to Argentina is still tough to comprehend.
The Pumas didn’t manage to touch that tally over two games in the now pointless-looking summer tour of 2014.
Ireland’s whole approach is based on the solid bedrock of their defence. They managed to navigate through the pool stages with a miserly two tries and 35 points conceded in four games.
When was the last time Ireland conceded four tries anyway?
We had to go look it up, but we bet the man who built Ireland’s impressive ‘D’ would have given the answer in a heartbeat. It was against Les Kiss’ home nation all they way back in November 2013. Ireland struggled for intensity in Joe Schmidt’s second game in charge and Quade Cooper took full advantage.
Before that? You have to go back 17 more months to the nightmare 60 – 0 pumping at the hands of New Zealand.
It must be incredibly annoying for Kiss that he bows out of his seven-year stint in charge of the green wall having watched it get smashed to bits.
Kiss was called to Ireland by Declan Kidney, who heard about a North Sydney Bears wing growing a big reputation for putting effective structures together in rugby union after working with the Springboks and under Ewen McKenzie with the Waratahs.
Kiss arrived in 2008 and had a Grand Slam within a year. Indeed, given Ireland’s meagre record of winning Championships, Kiss’ tally of three in seven years is to be revered.
It’s difficult to describe Kiss as anything other than ‘quietly effective’. He’s incredibly softly spoken, but every single word is worth tilting your ear for. If you happen to be sitting around an Ireland team hotel, you have to keep your eyes peeled, because he moves stealthily too, sailing from room to room in his Converse trainers and baseball cap.
The Australian will be extremely hard to replace when Joe Schmidt and David Nucifora do sit down to make an appointment this discontented winter. It’s far from ideal to be replacing another coach after John Plumtree was 2014′s departure from Schmidt’s side. However, the positive side to Kiss’ departure is that he is at least not lost to Irish rugby. He will remain very much under the umbrella while moving into his first job as a top buck-stopping coach when he finally becomes Ulster’s Director of Rugby.
There, he will have a similar job to the one that faced him in 2008. Ulster have been an under-performing team who have made a bad habit of falling just short.
With a growing number of their squad now getting to represent Ireland though, perhaps Kiss’ prolonged influence can push both teams to bigger and better things.
