David Nucifora issues final message as Ireland high performance boss
David Nucifora has published a message on his final day working as the IRFU high performance boss in Ireland. The ex-Australian hooker arrived in Dublin in 2014 to take on a newly created position to transform the sport for the Irish and his exit on Thursday came after the conclusion of the Olympic rugby sevens in Paris earlier this week.
The re-establishment of the sevens game was one of Nucifora’s biggest achievements on his watch, while he also helped to build the foundation for the Ireland men’s national team to enjoy a greater consistency in results with Joe Schmidt and now Andy Farrell at the helm.
Nucifora had coached at the Brumbies and the Blues in the noughties before moving on to become general manager at the Rugby Australia high performance unit in 2009. It was five years later when he was recruited by the IRFU. Now 62, he will now look to work as an independent advisor on high performance projects around the world. David Humphreys has taken over his IRFU role.
Posting to LinkedIn on Thursday, Nucifora wrote: “After 10 years my time at Irish Rugby as performance director today comes to an end. It has been a privilege to have been given the responsibility to have oversight for professional rugby in Ireland for this period.
“It has been an exhilarating ride with considerable change during this period and one that I have thoroughly enjoyed. This has been brought about by the people in our high performance team who are exceptional at what they do and have driven change and continual improvement over this period to help Irish Rugby get to where it is today.
“I thank you immensely for your contributions and on a professional and personal level a privilege to work with you all. In the coming weeks I will hopefully be able to communicate my next challenge as I seek to work globally on independent high performance advisory projects as they come to light. Thanks to everyone.”
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Nah hes a journeyman. Right call
Go to commentsAgreed for the most part. And perhaps Dmac needed a period were he is the 'Hobson's choice' too.
Yes and no, they main concern I had from the situation is Razor didn't really explain why they had developed differing opinions, had he? I've seen too many things happen in life to jump the gun. Fall all we know it was a locked in choice before they found the difference last year and played out this year to see if they were recoverable. I can certainly see where it would be a valid criticism to suggest he spent too much time reviewing his players tripping overseas and not enough work with his team at that time. But things like Tony Brown not even being contacted in the lead up to the naming of the squad are endemic in the union, and for much just as much blame should be laid on someone like Wayne Smith. Some like Mitch would have been aval at the same time too I'd think.
Ultimately I see MacDs time at the Blues much as I saw Ian Fosters time at the Chiefs. Heavily overshadowed by their successors but you could find something good in there if you wanted. Same here. This will play out.
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