Coaching Ticket

[R-Dog]

Does anyone else think we need to add some outside voices/ideas to our coaching ticket.

Kurt coming back has had a significant influence on our defense, but the rest of the coaching team have been round the Leinster set up for quite some time.

Leo is a long time back from Lecister now. Are he or Dempsey really able to bring fresh ideas to the table.

Players always come back from Lions tour more knowledgeable as a result of learning from different players coaches (Drico after seeing Wilkinson on the 2001 Oz Lions tour, Murray post last lions from working with Howley)

We definitely have room for a 2 people

Forwards Coach
Take some Pressure off Leo, working with Scrum coach.
Cheika had Jonno Gibbs so no reason why Leo should feel he cant have a Forwards coach.

(Would love to see us get someone Like Mario Ledesma or What is Richie McCaw up to these days)

and a Skills Coach
Someone to bring a spark to the back line in the way Knoxy did under Cheika

(Jonny wilkinson maybe...)

[leinsterforever]

O we could bring in actual coaches instead of just big-name ex players

[simonokeeffe]

the backs are playing good stuff by and large

going by our maul and maul defence a forwards or assistant forwards coach would be an idea

[riocard911]

How about giving Graham Rowntree a shout, if he's still free? Any thoughts?

[neiliog93]

How about giving Graham Rowntree a shout, if he's still free? Any thoughts?

Why not? Very good scrum coach. We have Fogarty though?

[molloyjh]

Are we not looking for a forwards coach at the moment? Wasn't there an article in the press (I know!) a few months ago where we had been linked to a French forwards coach but he declined the offer?

A replacement for Richie would be nice too, but we seem to be doing reasonably well without one for now.

[Dave Cahill]

We need an experienced forwards coach from, preferably, outside the Irish system.

I wasn't, initially, happy with the job Fogs was doing with the scrum, but that was premature of me I think.

[Oldschool]

The horse has bolted for the moment but Nathan Hines might be worth keeping an eye on.

[paddyor]

John Plumtree for the forwards and in particular the maul if we're doing fantasy coaching tickets.

[simonokeeffe]

Jamie Cudmore player/coach

[Morf]

Jamie Cudmore player/coach

French tutor and covert ops instructor.

[Keith]

We need a "how to score from 5m out" coach.

[Xanthippe]

We need a "how to score from 5m out" coach.

Wonder if that's the role they offered Shane Jennings when he retired.

[MelbourneRebel]

If we don't have confidence in Leo then he should go. If we do then he should be backed to assemble the team he thinks will bring success.

I don't think that he should have been given the role in the first place but as he has I think we should back him. Progress is slowly but surely being made. I hope that he knows he needs a better coaching ticket. If it is forced on him rather than lead by him then I think the writing is on the wall.

[Cianostays]

I actually think that the team (coaching team) have done rather well. To my mind the only disastrous, unacceptable performances were the games against Wasps. Those 2 matches aside, young players are being given a shot and we're playing better rugby than we did last year. I completely agree that we need to work on our maul but I'd back Leo to right that eventually.

If Leo does request we bring in someone then great but I think the ticket are actually going relatively well atm.

[cormac]

We need a "how to score from 5m out" coach.

Sounds like a job for Big Ollie Le Roux

[wixfjord]

Gotta say, I'm hugely positive about Leo, after being very negative initially around the appointment.
As someone said above, Wasps away has been the only big negative, and we've shown some nice shape and brought some young guys through well.
Bath home was the most pleasurable game I've seen in a while!

A forwards coach is a must though. Or specifically a maul coach. Used to be a huge part of our arsenal and with Mike Mac, Ruddock and Dev it should still be.

[FLIP]

We need a "how to score from 5m out" coach.

Sounds like a job for Big Ollie Le Roux

He said 5m, not 2m

[hugonaut]

We need an experienced forwards coach from, preferably, outside the Irish system.

I wasn't, initially, happy with the job Fogs was doing with the scrum, but that was premature of me I think.

Naka Drotske retired from coaching the Cheetahs last season "to pursue other business interests". He was a Free State player for the best part of his playing career [when he was in the SA team] and coached Free State teams for the guts of a decade, both in the Currie Cup and the Cheetahs in Super Rugby. I get the feeling that he was sort of worn down by his attachment to the club and it could be that he saw a need to step away from the game and recharge his batteries, or it could be a more permanent move.

Given his experience, his character and the particular strengths of South African rugby [lineout/maul/scrum] and the teams he coached, I think that he'd make an excellent addition to the coaching staff. His particular coaching strengths would seem to tie into our particular weaknesses. He played up in London Irish for a couple of years after his international career, so he's not totally unfamiliar with NH rugby, although obviously a lot has changed in the last decade.

The Rand is really weak at the moment [it hit a record low last month] so obviously that could have a part to play in making a move to the Eurozone attractive.

[molloyjh]

I actually think that the team (coaching team) have done rather well. To my mind the only disastrous, unacceptable performances were the games against Wasps. Those 2 matches aside, young players are being given a shot and we're playing better rugby than we did last year. I completely agree that we need to work on our maul but I'd back Leo to right that eventually.

If Leo does request we bring in someone then great but I think the ticket are actually going relatively well atm.

In terms of games the 2 Wasps games were a proper disaster IMO. Losing the second one was no big deal, but the manner of the loss hurt (even though we had nothing to play for etc). Other than that I've been fairly happy overall with everything other than our maul, which has been a bloody shambles for 2 seasons now. Although I do think recent performances have shown that we need someone in midfield who will sit a few guys down and make space outside him. Unless we sign someone else we might need to see more from a smaller back line for the international windows next season as we looked pretty toothless against Zebre for a good while after Te'o went off.