Kidney assesses his options

Ireland coach Declan Kidney is set to finalise his backroom line-up during the summer.

Ireland team manager Paul McNaughton has revealed he and head coach Declan Kidney plan to finalise their backroom line-up before the squad meet up again in August.

Ireland's end-of-season tour produced two defeats, the last being Saturday's 18-12 loss to Australia in Melbourne, but Kidney has yet to assume the reins.

As well as getting to know the players, McNaughton used his time in the southern hemisphere to continue the pursuit of several coaching targets, which are believed to include Munster defence coach Tony McGahan and new Leinster backs coach Alan Gaffney.

“We've been doing our work in terms of getting a coaching team together,” McNaughton told the Irish Independent.

“We're very happy with the way things have gone. We've identified the people we want but there's plenty of negotiating to be done yet.

“We don't feel under pressure time-wise to get it done but ideally things would be in place for the first squad session in August.

“We've identified a number of options but there's a fair bit of work to be done to get people over the line.”

South African Gert Smal is thought to have agreed to become forward coach, though McGahan may have to decide whether to join the national team set-up or succeed Kidney at the Munster helm.

Ireland's players are now on holiday following their two-Test tour, which began with last weekend's 21-11 defeat to New Zealand in Wellington.