'That was Steve just being cute as we'd call it in Ireland'

Ahead of Tuesday night’s Premiership Rugby Cup final at Brentford, London Irish boss Declan Kidney has curiously referenced last month’s attempt by Steve Diamond, his Worcester counterpart, to skew the Gallagher Premiership fixture list by bringing forward the Warriors’ final league fixture by three weeks. 

Worcester were due to face fellow strugglers Bath at Sixways on June 4, but both those clubs sought to bring that match forward to May 14. Due to the dominance of European weekends in the end of season calendar, Worcester were facing having no rugby at all in May while Bath were to have two fallow weeks in the lead-up to their May 21 game at The Rec versus London Irish.  

It was April 22 when it was eventually confirmed that the Worcester-Bath league match would not be shifted and would instead go ahead as originally planned on June 4 as a vote involving all 13 Premiership clubs refused the request to bring the game forward. Five days later, though, Worcester defeated Gloucester in the Premiership Cup semi-final to secure themselves a showpiece appearance that is now taking place in London on May 17.  

This boardroom politicking that took place was mentioned by Irish boss Kidney at his media briefing ahead of the cup final. Asked for his impression of Worcester since lead rugby consultant Diamond took charge following the January exit of Jonathan Thomas, Kidney touched on the fixture situation in his reply.

“I respect Steve a lot with what he has done with Sale in the past. He has a good track record in this competition. He won it two years ago with Sale and he will have earmarked this one as well. 

“I know there was a bit of toing and froing with the fixture list but that was Steve just being smart, just being cute as we’d call it in Ireland, just getting his lads a good fixture list. Their lads have had a two-and-a-half week lead in to this match on Tuesday and it will be two-and-a-half weeks until their next match, so they can fully focus on it to get themselves right for it. We’re expecting a full-blown cup final match.  

“For us, it means a lot but I’m also conscious it is the same for Worcester. It is 20 years since we have won a trophy at Premiership level. We said we would have a go at all competitions this year and that is what we have been trying to do. It takes a squad effort for that to happen.”

It was March 2018 when Kidney took charge of a struggling Irish team that was heading towards relegation from the Premiership. Aside from reaching Tuesday’s cup final, they are currently in eighth position in the top flight, a position that will qualify them for next season’s Heineken Champions Cup if they manage to hold onto it. 

Their issue with making it through to the elite European tournament for the first time since 2011/12 is they have just one Premiership match remaining - away to Bath on Saturday - compared to their rivals around them on the table each having two games to end their campaign. “I mentioned to Les (kiss, the head coach) on the training pitch that four years ago we were getting ready for the last match of the season against Bath and we were already relegated," continued Kidney. 

“We have managed to make some progress but tangible progress is if you manage to qualify for Champions Cup… I can’t say it is new for the club but there is not a whole lot of experience of it in the club, so we need to manage all the different things that go with a week like this both physically, mentally and emotionally. 

“We had a cut off the Toulon match (in the Challenge Cup quarter-finals). It just wasn’t to be and that has its own effects, but that is where we want to be as a club. It’s one line of work where the better you are the busier you are and you need to enjoy being busy. 

“These are steep learning curves and just because you get to a final you don’t have any god-given right to win it. We know that Worcester will be hungry, It’s 20 years since we won one, Worcester might be able to add on to that (wait) a bit, so you will have two very hungry sides on Tuesday. It’s akin in football to the League Cup and when there is a trophy on the line at the end, everyone wants to win the trophy. It has the making of a good night out.”