THE PROTRACTED recruitment process for the position of Ireland rugby coach could be concluded by the weekend, with Declan Kidney poised to be unveiled as Eddie O'Sullivan's successor.
There have been similar expectations several times in recent weeks, but it seems the IRFU management are now aware they have to expedite certain matters not unrelated to the job of head coach.
Kidney is not going to be rushed into a decision, his immediate priority, understandably, being Munster's Magners League and Heineken Cup final involvement.
The IRFU are sympathetic and therefore are willing to await his response to their offer of the national post, but they are keen to put in place interim managements as the Barbarians game and summer Tests against New Zealand and Australia loom closer.
They are looking to remove the shroud of uncertainty over the coaching arrangements for the senior tour and the Churchill Cup in the USA and Canada and an imminent announcement would help toward that end. A spokesperson yesterday confirmed "the announcement of a national coach and/or the confirmation of management teams . . . possibly by the weekend".
Invitations were sent to 60 players with regard to the senior and A squads but the composition of same won't be finalised until after the management teams have been chosen.
Given Munster face Toulouse in the Heineken Cup Final on Saturday, May 24th, none of their players will be available for Ireland's game against the Barbarians at Kingsholm on Tuesday, May 27th. Those selected to play in the Tests against New Zealand and Australia will link up with the senior squad at Pennyhill Park Hotel the following Wednesday, three days before the squad fly out from London.
It means there will be three national squads announced: one for the Barbarians match without Munster players, a second for the senior summer tour and a third for the Churchill Cup.
Connacht coach Michael Bradley will be handed the role of interim head coach for the match in Gloucester and the tour to the Southern Hemisphere, and with that will come the responsibility of selecting the squad for that tour in conjunction with the rest of the interim management team.
Bradley was originally named to take charge of the Churchill Cup squad next month but the IRFU will have to look elsewhere in appointing a head coach for that tournament.
Eric Elwood and Dan McFarland will be in charge of the Ireland team for the Under-20 World Cup in Wales so won't be in a position to take on any new duties.
Cork Constitution's Brian Walsh should be a strong contender given his impressive record at club and club international level. The responsibility of picking the Churchill Cup squad would be handed to him were he appointed.
It appears the IRFU have decided to overlook the former Ireland forwards coach Niall O'Donovan, whose contract with the union finished last week, for the senior summer tour.
The Shannon man led Ireland on a successful two-Test tour of Japan in 2005 when O'Sullivan was otherwise engaged, with the Lions in New Zealand. It is my understanding there has been no contact between the IRFU and O'Donovan for some six weeks.
On the basis of previous experience and the understanding it was an interim appointment, O'Donovan appeared to many a logical choice, but his ties to the previous coaching regime - rather than any perceived inability to fulfil a role he has discharged successfully in the past - may have undermined his candidacy.
The former South African forwards coach Gert Smal is being considered for a post in a new national management team subject to the agreement of the head coach. Paul McNaughton is strongly favoured to assume the duties of national team manager.
