Wednesday 30 November 2011

Kirwan Keen on Interim RFU Role


John Kirwan is interested in taking charge of England for next year's RBS 6 Nations on an interim basis.

The Rugby Football Union (RFU) are expected to delay the appointment of a new full-time head coach until after the Six Nations as they look to find a long-term successor for Martin Johnson.

However Kirwan has now thrown his hat into the ring, the former Italy and Japan coach believing he could impress enough in the role to eventually secure it permanently.
Unperturbed

The ex-New Zealand international insists he would be unperturbed by the political crisis and structural problems troubling the RFU.

"I understand the situation the RFU is in at the moment, but I'm a little bit different to the other coaches," he said.

"Others like Nick (Mallett) and Wayne (Smith) are saying no because of the structure above, but I'm at a different stage of my career.

"I'm a young coach, I enjoy risk, I love attack. Someone needs to get in there and sort the team out.

"If I'm not part of the future I'm prepared to do it as long as I'm set up to help these boys get back on the pitch and win football games.

"And then if there is a role because we have done well...

"England are not a complete failure - they won the Six Nations (in 2011) and played some great rugby.

"They have a great team and a great Premiership competition, but there are some structural issues that need to be sorted out."

But ex-Gloucester boss Dean Ryan, an outsider for the head coach's position, insists he has no confidence that the RFU will resolve the many internal issues that have rocked the English game in recent months.

"The events of the last six months have led to a lack of confidence in the governing body," he said.

"They are in a state of flux, in a void at the moment and pretty quickly someone needs to restart building trust.

"How do we get confidence that decisions are not taken for a vested interest? That is an erosion of confidence."

Kirwan and Ryan will be coaching the Southern Hemisphere and Northern Hemisphere respectively for the Help for Heroes charity at Twickenham on Saturday.