Ireland downgrade head coach role

The role has been vacant since the end of August when Tom Tierney stepped down following a hugely disappointing World Cup.

Ireland lost heavily to France, Australia and Wales in a home World Cup which promised much, but delivered poorly on the pitch.  Tierney had been in the role in a fulltime capacity on a three-year contract which began in 2014.

There has been no response as yet from the IRFU to our queries for the strategy  behind this.

The IRFU's handling of its national XV team since the World Cup is deeply puzzling. Whatever has been happening behind the scenes - and we are never given any sort of background briefings by the IRFU, as per other nations, on the context of high level decision making so we have no idea what that is - it is simply negligent that a role that has been vacant for months has only been advertised now.

This isn't only because the 6 Nations is fast approaching, but also because Ireland are now falling behind all of their championship counterparts in preparing for it.  Italy, France, Wales, England and Scotland are all active in the coming months with either test or other representative games planned.

Fairly or unfairly, it also sets a dismissive tone as to how it communicates key changes to its women's programme. That there is no public explanation of a serious downgrade of its head coaching role or its failure to organise a single match between now and the New Year, reflects very poorly on the IRFU.

And that Ireland will be poorly prepared on the back of a season where significant gains had been made both on support around the team and test game build-up to major tournaments must be hugely frustrating for players.

It is impossible to understand why a team who has just hosted a World Cup end the year with all of the momentum of the surge of interest in the women's game from the public killed- whatever their results.

If there is a strategy, let's hear it IRFU?