Declan Kidney

Declan Kidney (born 20 October 1959 in Ballincollig, County Cork) is the former head coach of the Ireland national rugby union team.

Early life

Kidney played rugby for UCC and later for Dolphin RFC. He studied to become a mathematics teacher, in which position he was appointed at Presentation Brothers College, Cork, and later became the career guidance officer.

He took on the role of rugby coach at the school, where he had initial success as coach of the junior and later senior side.

Coaching career

Early career

Following his coaching of the Irish Schools team, Kidney coached the Ireland under 19s team which won the FIRA World Cup in 1998. After this Tournament he joined Munster.

His initial stint at Munster ended in 2002, when he left to become Ireland's assistant coach. He was replaced at Munster by Alan Gaffney.

In the summer of 2004, he became coach at Newport Gwent Dragons. However in August 2004, after only 3 months in the job, he left to join Leinster.

Success with Munster

He rejoined Munster in 2005, winning the Heineken Cup in his first season back, after losing in both 2000 and 2002 in the final. After this win, Kidney was awarded the 2006 Philips Sports Manager of the Year award, and on 24 May 2008, his Munster squad won the Heineken Cup once again.