Declan Kidney - coach of the year. And well deserved.

You could not help but raise a smile at Kidney’s deadpan assertion that, had Ronan O’Gara played against the Springboks, Ireland could have won by more.

The statement is, of course, quite feasible, and ROG’s decent performance against Australia had us all believing that Kidney would have backed Ireland’s top points scorer in his selection for the Springboks game.

With this and other statements about how he now possesses two international outhalves, the Ireland coach gave another example of his intuitive sense of how a player feels and how best to manage that same player.

While Kidney will be purring inside at the justification of his selection of Johnny Sexton, there was no glittering praise — keep the young man’s feet firmly on the ground, there is far too much work to be done.

Similarly, far too much work has already been done by Ronan O’Gara for his old Munster boss to say anything that might make ROG feel that he is now consigned to history. Of course, Kidney is right again. If Ireland are to challenge the ‘Big Three’ in the next World Cup the squad will need at least two, if not three, quality outhalves, therefore the search will continue.

Kidney knows what makes players tick. He has an innate sense of how they feel, he gets inside their heads. His biggest challenge was to encourage the players to view their historic Grand Slam as a springboard to further success rather than an end in itself. The players have clearly taken this on board and responded accordingly — their coach might well consider this his greatest success.

It is fitting that in a year of unbeaten international rugby, the Ireland coach was the outstanding candidate for this award. The only other individual really in the running was Springbok coach Peter de Villiers, but when you look at the two men, and I emphasise the term ‘men’, there could only have been one choice.

Next up is the Six Nations and a Grand Slam will be far more difficult second time around, particularly with France away in Paris.

But the current Ireland coach thrives on challenges, inspires the highest of standards and drives ambition.

Irish rugby is in a good place and continues to capture our imagination and support. For this, Declan Kidney must take enormous credit and his award is much deserved.