Dave Cahill wrote:Lar wrote:
Can't agree with that Dave. After the last RWC the Union must be targeting a semi final at least. .
If the RWC was any kind of priority Schmidt would have been sacked after 2015, Kidney after 2011 and O'Sullivan after 2007 - cr@p sub-standard campaigns all. But they weren't because it didn't matter. In fact all were given contract renewals coming into those tournaments.
That's a staggeringly weak argument Dave – I'm surprised at you!
With regards to Kidney in 2011 and Schmidt in 2015, there's no chance that you get the sack after a 4 win, 1 loss tournament with Ireland. If you think that one middling/disappointing tournament is enough to get turfed out, then Kidney should have got the sack after the 2010 Six Nations and Schmidt should have had the same treatment after last year's Six Nations. By your logic, i.e. the IRFU value the Six Nations higher than the World Cup, those sub-par campaigns would have seen them axed.
Both Kidney and Schmidt took their team through the group stages undefeated in their respective World Cups, both lost their first knock-out match. That's knock-out rugby – it can be exhilarating and disappointing in equal measure.
RWC 2007
was a 'sub-standard' campaign. It was a total clusterf*ck. O'Sullivan had signed a deal in August 2007 to take him into 2012 as head coach of the national team. He never recovered from the World Cup collapse and limped through the 2008 Six Nations before getting canned. If you want to believe that he got canned as a result of the 2008 Six Nations alone, and that the RWC07 performances had nothing to do with it, that's up to you. I don't.
