THE manager and coach of the Ireland team, Pat Whelan and Murray Kidd, will be reappointed for next season. They will be nominated within the next few weeks by the three man election sub committee of the IRFU, the group whose task it is to recommend such appointments. Their choice must then be ratified by the IRFU committee, and that formality will be completed at its next meeting, scheduled for April 19th.

There is an understandable desire to put the manager and coach in place so that they can make the necessary arrangements for the national squad to be brought together during the summer. That could mean three day sessions in June, July and August. Ireland will meet Australia next season in Dublin prior to the International Championship.

Whelan and Kidd will be given the opportunity to build on the work done this season. I do not think anyone could reasonably disagree with such a decision. They have earned the right to another season and will definitely get it.

Because of the decision taken by the International Rugby Football Board (IRFB) in Paris at the end of last August, that the game was in essence going professional or, as it was termed, "open", the IRFU election sub committee, with the authority of the executive, delayed selection of a coach until October. Kidd was then appointed as he first full time coach to the national side.

In contrast, then, to what happened this season when because of circumstances, Ireland's time for preparation for the International Championship was severely curtailed, the manager and coach will be able to put their arrangements in place for next season within a matter of weeks.

While the election sub committee is empowered to appoint the manager and coach under the interim regulations which have applied since the IRFB meeting in August, the IRFU, like all other unions, have to rewrite their laws to take account of the new situation in the game. That complicated and difficult assignment has been taken on by IRFU committee member Billy Lavery.

The new chairman of the election sub committee.

Eddie Coleman, confirmed yesterday that the sub committee will meet in the next few weeks. They should then have their nominations in place, and Whelan and Kidd will be ratified on April 19th by the IRFU executive.

The nomination of a selector or selectors to work with the manager and coach will be deferred until the laws of the IRFU are rewritten. While amended IRFB laws will not, in effect, have a bearing on whether Ireland goes for one or three selectors, the IRFU laws cannot be rewritten until the IRFU receives the amended laws agreed by the IRFB.

Lavery hopes to have the new laws soon, so that he can complete rewriting the IRFU laws.

Those laws must be ratified by the full council of the IRFU, as opposed to the executive committee. There is a distinct difference. The council comprises the annual general meeting of the union, and includes such as branch representatives and former presidents of the union.

Kidd was appointed under the interim laws that applied after the IRFB meeting in Tokyo in September. Such an appointment would not have have been possible under the old order. Ordinarily, the coach, manager and selectors are chosen by the election sub committee from nominations submitted to the union by April 30th each year from the branches, outgoing selection committee, the IRFU and, in the case of the coach, the coaching sub committee.

Yet again, in ordinary circumstances to change that method it would have been necessary to call a special meeting of the IRFU council. But with the laws changed so radically following what happened in Paris, the IRFU wrote to the council members last September outlining the position, and worked under the interim laws. That enabled them to appoint Kidd without a special general meeting.

The union wrote again last month to the council members keeping them informed of the current position. Under that the union is empowered to go ahead with the appointment of manager and coach. It was accepted that, until the union is in receipt of the new IRFB laws, there was little point in completing the task of rewriting the IRFU laws.

Such was the position that if the union could not operate under the interim laws, it would have been necessary to call special meetings of the IRFU council almost on a regular basis to operate. That obviously was totally impractical. And while the laws relating to the appointment of selectors is a domestic matter, any change in that method will be incorporated in the rewritten laws.

One of the things that must be provided for in the new laws is the number of selectors that will be in place next season and the method of nominating people to fill those positions. There is a view that only one additional selector should be appointed to work with manager and coach. That would mean dropping two of the five currently in place.

The provinces may not be enthusiastic about that, yet there is an unwieldy aspect to the current system. The manager is certain to be consulted, too, on the issue. Whelan worked very well with his selectors this season, and each of the three Frank Sowman, Joe Miles and Donal Lenihan had specific roles in the set up. For instance, Sowman helped Whelan with administration, Lenihan was in charge of opposition analysis and Miles on the fitness.

Whelan is on record as stating that the three selectors were totally supportive to himself and the coach and he may wish to maintain the status quo. However, there could come a point where equal harmony might not exist with a different group, and that is one of the issues the IRFU must consider. So in the future we may see a three man selection committee with additional advisers.

Meanwhile, the Five Nations committee meets in London today to discuss European competition next year. The Welsh clubs reached agreement with their union at the weekend on the way forward next season. The Welsh have agreed to support the concept that the European Cup, under the official body ERC, will go ahead, with 20 competing that there will be an Anglo Welsh competition, a more restricted domestic league and a second tier European competition embracing 32 or 36 entrants.

That is certainly a vital step away from any breakaway European leagues. The English Union met representatives from their first and second division clubs yesterday, and the Five Nations will be in possession of the outcome of that meeting today.

I gather, too, that officials from some rugby unions met representatives from Sky television last week and were assured that Sky would not underwrite a breakaway league. There is now a realisation that were Sky to do that, it would kill any chance they would have, of getting rights, primary or otherwise, to the Five Nations Championship, the prize Sky most eagerly wants.

So matters seem to be moving to a resolution on the European issue. Next Sunday the IRFU will meet representatives from the senior clubs and that meeting will be open to journalists. It is likely that following the meeting, the union will meet the Irish first division clubs who have requested a separate meeting with the union.