RUGBY:THE IRFU remain confident Declan Kidney will agree to become the next Ireland head coach and it will be possible to confirm the appointment early next week. It is believed Kidney has been offered the post and the unexpected delay is because he has yet to sign on the dotted line.

This in turn raises the unnerving possibility the appointments committee of Neil Jackson, Pa Whelan and Noel Murphy are seeking to influence Kidney's choice of backroom staff.

Kidney, who has deliberated at length about his difficult decision, made a return trip from Belfast to Dublin on Wednesday, prior to Munster's Magners League defeat, to meet with the committee.

Kidney is likely to bring in Tony McGahan, the well-regarded defensive/backs coach with Munster for the last two-and-a-half seasons, and possibly Alan Gaffney.

Gaffney enjoys a good relationship with Kidney and will be in situ with Leinster in a coaching/consultative capacity, a role he could therefore duplicate with Ireland. The Leinster manager, Paul McNaughton, also remains on good terms with Kidney and would be a strong appointment and popular with Leinster players.

The forthcoming Ireland-Barbarians match and the summer tour are likely to come too soon for Kidney to have any involvement.

Michael Bradley, already named to take Ireland A to the Churchill Cup, has been earmarked as caretaker coach against the Barbarians, the All Blacks and Australia.

Concerned Kidney might decline the offer, the appointments committee interviewed South Africa's World Cup-winning coach Jake White the week before last while he was in Dublin.

He could, therefore, possibly emerge as an alternative candidate for Munster to a home-grown coach such as Bradley.