Paul O’Connell shall be assisted by Denis Leamy, Mike Prendergast and Colm Tucker on Eire’s summer season tour of Georgia and Portugal.
Eire legend O’Connell was confirmed as head coach for the matches in Tbilisi and Lisbon final week. He has been Eire’s ahead’s coach since January 2021 and is without doubt one of the most profitable gamers to have stepped onto a pitch, successful a Grand Slam in 2023, back-to-back Six Nations titles and three Triple Crowns.
Andy Farrell is away on the British and Irish Lions tour of Australia, and he takes Simon Easterby, Andrew Goodman, and John Fogarty with him.
O’Connell admits that he’s delighted to step into the unknown for the most important problem of his teaching profession in what has been seen as a significant gamble by the IRFU.
“I’m honoured to just accept the interim place of Head Coach for the forthcoming summer season tour to Georgia and Portugal and it guarantees to be an vital sequence of matches performed towards unfamiliar opponents in testing situations.
“With a busy schedule of worldwide rugby this summer season, these two Assessments will present us with additional alternatives to evaluate and develop the competitors ranges throughout the squad.
“I’m excited to work with a training crew who I do know nicely individually and are massively motivated to ship success to Ireland and stay up for placing our plans in place over the approaching weeks,” he stated
Leamy and Prendergast both played with O’Connell for Munster, while the former was an Ireland teammate as well.
Prendergast and Tucker worked together earlier this year, meanwhile, as part of the Ireland A set-up that performed England in Bristol.
IRFU Efficiency Director David Humphreys added: “We’re delighted that Paul has accepted this function and consider that his elevation ensures continuity throughout the males’s teaching crew. It’s going to additionally mark an vital step in his teaching profession as we look forward to an thrilling summer season schedule.
“He shall be assisted by Denis (Leamy), Mike (Prendergast) and Cullie (Tucker) who’ve all been in Eire camp at completely different factors during the last variety of months and their picks is one other optimistic development of their teaching careers and reasserts the IRFU’s dedication to growing a pathway for Irish coaches.”
