THE BRUMBIES HAVE confirmed that Laurie Fisher will leave his role as the club’s Director of Rugby at the end of the season, with the Australian expected to join Gloucester as head coach.
With David Humphreys installed as Director of Rugby at Kingsholm, the Premiership club have been active in recruiting coaching staff ahead of the 2014/15 campaign. Fisher is seen as the ideal candidate to lead the training ground efforts.
Fisher had a three-year spell with Munster as forwards coach between 2008 and 2011, where his technical expertise was highly appreciated. The 55-year-old arrived in Ireland after a first stint as head coach of the Brumbies, having previously worked as forwards coach at the Super Rugby side under David Nucifora.
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After leaving Munster, Fisher returned to the Canberra-based franchise, where he brought about notable improvements alongside Jake White and Stephen Larkham, culminating in reaching the 2013 Super Rugby final.
While no official confirmation of the signature has come from Gloucester yet – the club will “issue a statement when an appointment is made” – it is believed that only formalities and a working visa remain to be organised. The Brumbies have stated that Fisher is leaving Super Rugby “to pursue opportunities in Europe.”
Ulsterman Humphreys has already appointed Nick Walshe as backs and attack coach at Kingsholm, while the highly-respected Nick Muggleton has joined as defence coach.
Walshe recently led the England U20s to the Junior World Championship in New Zealand, their second consecutive title in that competition under the coaching of the former international scrum-half.
Muggleton is an ex-Australian rugby league international, who moved into union after retiring from playing. His time as defence coach of the Wallabies saw them claim the 1999 World Cup and the 2001 Test series against the Lions.
Humphreys' switch from Ulster was confirmed earlier this month. Ryan Byrne / INPHO
Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO
These impressive appointments are exactly why Gloucester recruited 72-times capped former Ireland out-half Humphreys as Director of Rugby, with his network of contacts and positive reputation within the game already proving valuable.
The expected appointment of Fisher, a genuine student of the sport, would be another sign of the progress Humphreys hopes to bring at Gloucester ahead of his first season in charge of the club.
I really didn’t rate this dude as Munster forwards coach at all. Munster getting beaten up at home by 14-man Clermont is what I remember from his tenure. Maybe he’s ok in terms of skills and breakdown work, but going by how Munster played while he was there he’s not good at turning a pack into a powerful unit
He seems to be highly regarded, he was a Super Rugby winning forwards coach with the Brumbies in his first stint with them and brought them to the Super Rugby final in his most recent stint. He’s now got a move to Premiership rugby, probably for big money.
Whatever about his time at Munster, it’s important to remember that you can’t make a silk purse sow’s ear.
Ferris, Afoa and now, sadly, it seems Ulster have lost another world class asset who was at the top of his game.
It’s understandable, but Humphreys moving on is devastating. I’m not sure it is possible to achieve an upgrade in that role.
Humphrey’s a world class asset? Popular because he had the budget to bring in Afoa, Pienaar, Muller etc but would Ulster not have needed to have some trophies? Now that the IRFU are implementing Plan Ireland and the focus has been placed upon Irish qualified players, he is following the money to Gloucester where it can be no coincidence, Afoa is based. Ambitious yes, world class, maybe at Gloucester. With Plan Ireland repositioning the provinces as a feeder stream for the Ireland squad, then Ulster rugby may need a Director of Rugby whose talents are in the recruitment of Irish qualified juniors and developing an environment that provides juniors with the learning opportunities to produce performance levels that deliver 1st team success. Given that Ulster had only one representative at the JWC this is a considerable challenge. The challenge for the next director of rugby at Ulster will be to develop and innovate a nursery and production line of juniors that is World Class.
I suppose you’re right- he was just a purchaser. Without big money foreigners he’d have been terrible.
I mean Best, Henderson, Ferris, Henry, Paul Marshall, Luke Marshall, Jackson, Cave, Bowe, Trimble, Olding all broke through for Ireland after Humph took over. He could never have got young Ulster natives to play like those guys.
Crap return on his other IQ projects like Court, Diack, and that dud Jared Payne too.
Bottom line is he used what he had. He shouldn’t lose points because he had a budget. The fact that all his signings were a success shows what a good job he did. Shame they didn’t manage to get over the top and win a trophy but everything from transfers, to development, to facilities, to the business itself are light years ahead of where they were when he took over. So, yes. Humph did a world class job.
I did not state or claim that he was just a purchaser. I would agree that Ulster are improved from when he took over but you are crediting Humph with the business, facilities and aspects of Ulster rugby development that were beyond the remit of the Director of Rugby. Humph took over from what was an amateur mentality and so was able to make improvements that were the most visible to fans, which seemed huge to most Ulster fans but when infact Rugby League clubs had been doing for a decade before. You named Afoa but forgot to add Muller, Court and Ferris who are either leaving or retiring and the fact is the fans will find out in the coming the season just how important they were. Humph did a great job for Ulster within the means he had but in his tenure he did not secure a significant trophy and so will be tested at Gloucester in a more difficult competition but to the uninformed he has some way to go to catch up with Mark McCall. Whose success speaks for itself. Gloucester is where Humph will find out if he is World Class.
I do mention Ferris and Court. A local and an IQ signing who would’ve been success stories in your Plan Ireland scenario.
Yes, I also mention facilities and the business because DoR gets a seat at the table for those discussions. Even if it is ancillary to the role, credit where it’s due.
You didn’t acknowledge his central player development, or any of those players I named, saying Plan Ireland would require a DoR who could develop local players. DH was clearly doing exactly that.
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I really didn’t rate this dude as Munster forwards coach at all. Munster getting beaten up at home by 14-man Clermont is what I remember from his tenure. Maybe he’s ok in terms of skills and breakdown work, but going by how Munster played while he was there he’s not good at turning a pack into a powerful unit
He seems to be highly regarded, he was a Super Rugby winning forwards coach with the Brumbies in his first stint with them and brought them to the Super Rugby final in his most recent stint. He’s now got a move to Premiership rugby, probably for big money.
Whatever about his time at Munster, it’s important to remember that you can’t make a silk purse sow’s ear.
Ferris, Afoa and now, sadly, it seems Ulster have lost another world class asset who was at the top of his game.
It’s understandable, but Humphreys moving on is devastating. I’m not sure it is possible to achieve an upgrade in that role.
Humphrey’s a world class asset? Popular because he had the budget to bring in Afoa, Pienaar, Muller etc but would Ulster not have needed to have some trophies? Now that the IRFU are implementing Plan Ireland and the focus has been placed upon Irish qualified players, he is following the money to Gloucester where it can be no coincidence, Afoa is based. Ambitious yes, world class, maybe at Gloucester. With Plan Ireland repositioning the provinces as a feeder stream for the Ireland squad, then Ulster rugby may need a Director of Rugby whose talents are in the recruitment of Irish qualified juniors and developing an environment that provides juniors with the learning opportunities to produce performance levels that deliver 1st team success. Given that Ulster had only one representative at the JWC this is a considerable challenge. The challenge for the next director of rugby at Ulster will be to develop and innovate a nursery and production line of juniors that is World Class.
I suppose you’re right- he was just a purchaser. Without big money foreigners he’d have been terrible.
I mean Best, Henderson, Ferris, Henry, Paul Marshall, Luke Marshall, Jackson, Cave, Bowe, Trimble, Olding all broke through for Ireland after Humph took over. He could never have got young Ulster natives to play like those guys.
Crap return on his other IQ projects like Court, Diack, and that dud Jared Payne too.
Bottom line is he used what he had. He shouldn’t lose points because he had a budget. The fact that all his signings were a success shows what a good job he did. Shame they didn’t manage to get over the top and win a trophy but everything from transfers, to development, to facilities, to the business itself are light years ahead of where they were when he took over. So, yes. Humph did a world class job.
I did not state or claim that he was just a purchaser. I would agree that Ulster are improved from when he took over but you are crediting Humph with the business, facilities and aspects of Ulster rugby development that were beyond the remit of the Director of Rugby. Humph took over from what was an amateur mentality and so was able to make improvements that were the most visible to fans, which seemed huge to most Ulster fans but when infact Rugby League clubs had been doing for a decade before. You named Afoa but forgot to add Muller, Court and Ferris who are either leaving or retiring and the fact is the fans will find out in the coming the season just how important they were. Humph did a great job for Ulster within the means he had but in his tenure he did not secure a significant trophy and so will be tested at Gloucester in a more difficult competition but to the uninformed he has some way to go to catch up with Mark McCall. Whose success speaks for itself. Gloucester is where Humph will find out if he is World Class.
I do mention Ferris and Court. A local and an IQ signing who would’ve been success stories in your Plan Ireland scenario.
Yes, I also mention facilities and the business because DoR gets a seat at the table for those discussions. Even if it is ancillary to the role, credit where it’s due.
You didn’t acknowledge his central player development, or any of those players I named, saying Plan Ireland would require a DoR who could develop local players. DH was clearly doing exactly that.
Ferris would have been a Plan Ireland success but I hope you would give credit to the Portadown youth coaches for that. Court is not exactly a Healy or McGrath.
Of the players you named I hope you would give credit to all the schools cup coaches that brought those players to the attention of Humph. It is clear that more should and could be done as reported here http://www.intouchrugby.com/magazine/ulster-rugby-academy-12-players-connacht-15-munster-20-leinster-23-numbers-schools-clubs-producing-palyers-province-comparison/ and in the academy thread in the uafc forum. Not exactly of the standard of http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wigan_Warriors_Youth_Development. Humphrey’s was correct in his vision, Ulster rugby is a sleeping giant.