Hi °C | Lo °C His leadership against England was a disaster. There he sat in the Aviva Stadium stand seemingly oblivious of the stupid Irish tactics – the succession of kicks giving possession to England – and not a move to solve the problem that was hardly a conundrum.
The crowd of 50,000 were as quiet as mice as they watched the silly Irish spectacle. Surely with so many water-boys and medical staff available to enter the playing surface, a message should have come from the head coach. But none came.
And then there was England, a mediocre outfit with just one decent player, their place-kicker, allowed to dominate.
This, I'm afraid, is not Kidney's only drawback. Some of his selections defy logic, and overall he has lost the confidence of the supporters.
It's time to go.
The really difficult thing to take is that this Irish squad is clearly one of the best in world rugby and is being sold short. The three-quarter line is probably the best in the game and the pack is capable of matching any side.
But coaching? There is a plethora of coaches covering every technical element of the game, but the results and the performances don't merit their existence.
My thoughts turn to past days when a chat with Mick Doyle or Ciaran Fitzgerald would yield a gem or two. Those legendary coaches might even tell you what they got wrong.
Not anymore.
Or even back to the golden days of Tommy Kiernan, when a player would speak frankly to you about how the team did. Nowadays a player is rolled out in front of the media to deliver a few soundbites of mostly nonsense.
Whose diktat is that, I wonder?
Anyway, the solution to Ireland's dire situation begins with getting rid of Kidney.
