Listen to the full interview above via the podcast
While Joe Schmidt's appointment as Ireland head coach was seen as a fresh start for the Irish rugby team, a former member of the ancien regime is one of his right hand men.
Les Kiss arrived as defence coach under Declan Kidney, in time to help Ireland to the 2009 Grand Slam and despite the former Munster coach's departure, Kiss remained part of the setup as Schmidt came in.
The Australian has received plenty of praise for his work with the Ireland players and tonight he joined us in studio to talk about his work and one of his tactical innovations which has caught on like wildfire.
"There's no secret that Joe drives a really good energetic approach to the preparation," said Kiss, who also tipped his hat to sports psychologist and former All Ireland winner Enda McNulty who has worked with the players and staff.
Kiss has been credited with innovating the choke tackle which has been used increasingly used at the elite level of international rugby.
He explained how he developed it:
"You're always exploring ways to get an advantage. It evolved over a period of time into a formative strategy. You have to take your hat off to the players first and foremost because they understood it and they took hold of it. The real genesis of it came in a conversation with Mark Lawrence, the referee against England at Twickenham. We asked him 'if we hold the ball up and it goes into a maul, what happens?' He said if it's a maul and it's held up and goes to ground and can't be played, then its our scrum. So it sort of morphed from there," said Kiss, explaining how it was applied successfully against Australia in the last Rugby World Cup.
Kiss also explained how Brian O'Driscoll has become a defensive asset for Ireland, something Kiss sees as "learnable" and why the legendary 13 is the best exponent he has had under his tutelage.
A former rugby league player, he told us which code of rugby he prefers, while also discussing his head coach ambitions and his future in the Ireland setup.
