The fallout from Matt O'Connor's departure from Leinster continues in earnest today with all of the Sunday papers offering their take on the reasons for the Australian leaving. Neil Francis as ever, has an interesting theory as to who ultimately made the decision to force O'Connor out:
It looks to me as though the national coach and the IRFU performance director decided enough was enough. I don’t know that for a fact, but somebody tell me that I’m wrong. Joe Schmidt wants to win the World Cup this year and he has a real chance so anything that remotely interferes with that ambition, well we know enough now that he does not hold back.
This follows on from an earlier suggestion that once O'Connor took on Schmidt publicly, the dye was cast. It must be said that there is no evidence to back this up but it is intriguing theory. Francis' view is refuted somewhat by Brendan Fanning - also writing in the Independent today, who said that while Schmidt wasn't particularly enamored with O'Connor, it's "a jump" to suggest that was the reason for his departure.
H/T Independent
