IRFU to trawl the globe for provincial coaches

THE IRFU, who recently announced that it was the organisation's intention to provide the funding for the appointment of four provincial coaching directors, yesterday confirmed that it is now taking the formal steps towards that objective - "as part of the policy to improve the quality and competitiveness of Irish rugby".

The new directors will be contracted through the provinces. Leinster, Connacht, Munster and Ulster will all have coaching directors and the appointments are being made in association with the policy of the tiered contracts being offered to around 100 players.

The new posts, the IRFU statement says, "are going to be advertised around the rugby world as the IRFU seeks to appoint directors whose primary responsibilities are to be: 1. The performance of the senior provincial teams; 2. The management of the provincial elite programme; 3. To contribute to the national rugby plan.

"The new directors will be given three year contracts and the salaries will reflect the significance of the positions.

This season the IRFU gave each province £40,000 towards the management costs of their provincial teams. Ulster subsequently spent that money on appointing Tony Russ as director of rugby - a post she resigned a few weeks ago to taken up a similar position with the Waterloo club in England.

The other provinces did not pursue a similar course. Munster and Leinster, for instance, split the money between their management teams. Whether the IRFU will provide additional money for that practice to continue, in addition to paying the director of rugby, has not yet been decided by the union.

The names of the Ireland players who will undergo winter heat training in the Algarve, from December 28th to January 2nd, will be announced on Thursday. It is anticipated that around 37 players will be invited to travel. This means that a few players, who are not contracted, are likely to be added to the squad.

Thirty three players were originally named in the squad prior to the start of the season, but injuries have taken their toll - Simon Geoghegan, Christian Saverimutto and Paul Cunningham are all affected.

As already announced the weekend of the Ireland Australia international, four additional players were subsequently given contracts. They are Gary Halpin, Mark McCall, Eric Millar and Keith Wood.

Wood and McCall played against Australia. Eddie Halvey, a contracted player, was injured and ruled out of Munster's and Ireland's matches, but he returned to the game with Shannon last Saturday. His fitness is, nonetheless, obviously an issue.

Non contracted players such as Eric Elwood, Ben Cronin, Killian Keane, Shane Leahy and Mark McDermott could all be contenders for inclusion in the squad for the Algarve as well as Brian O'Meara, one of the development players attached to, but not a member of, the senior squad. He played against South Africa A last month and was on the bench against Australia.