Rugby: In a surprise about-turn, Declan Kidney will be installed as the new Leinster coach later this week pending a compensation package being agreed between the province and the Gwent Dragons, with whom the outgoing Ireland coach had signed a two-year deal two weeks ago. Gerry Thornley Rugby correspondent reports

Rumours Kidney was having a rethink about his commitment to the Dragons surfaced in Wales over the weekend, and after Leinster chief executive Mick Dawson had confirmed Gary Ella had been removed with two years left of his contract as the province's head coach, all the pointers led to Kidney being inserted.

Significantly, when asked if Leinster would be going through the procedures they applied when choosing Ella to succeed Matt Williams a year ago, Dawson said they would not.

"We will be announcing a new coach by the end of the week and we know who we want that man to be," said Dawson, which strongly intimates the new coach had already been lined up prior to Ella being notified on Sunday night that his tenure was over.

Various Leinster players have been informed their new coach will be Irish, which realistically narrows the field down to two, Kidney and Connacht's Michael Bradley, and Connacht sources confirm Bradley has not, as far as they are aware, been approached.

Some Leinster players will undoubtedly be annoyed by Ella's treatment, for even among his critics within the squad the easy-going Australian remains a popular figure. To replace him, Leinster would need to have someone who is also popular with the players and would have a unifying effect on the dressing-room in pre-season. Kidney, through his time with Irish under-age sides and as assistant Irish coach, would do just that, as the players had made abundantly clear.

Kidney was not available for comment yesterday, but sources in Wales intimate the Dragons do not expect to have him next season.

A club director, Martyn Hazell, admitted they were "worried" when commenting: "Nobody has approached us and Declan is on a two-year contract but there would be no point in keeping a coach or player if he doesn't want to be with you."

The Dragons will be sympathetic to Kidney - the club benefactor Tony Brown likes him personally - but are infuriated by what they see as Leinster's underhand approach to him.

Accordingly, they will make Leinster pay for their tardiness in approaching Kidney - whom they could have got for nothing a few weeks ago - and buying out his Dragons deal is likely to cost £40,000 to £50,000. Added to compensation for Ella, this could bring their bill to over 100,000, at the end of an expensive year that included failure to qualify for the quarter-finals of the Heineken Cup and the Felipe Contepomi registration gaffe.

To their credit, Leinster have probably got the right man, but have gone a curious way about it.

In a statement yesterday, the Leinster Branch confirmed a meeting of the Team Management Committee had taken place last week and "it was decided with Gary Ella, that Gary steps down . . . with immediate effect".

Dawson's statement added: "I would like to thank Gary for all his efforts in what has been a difficult season where the absence of players and a lengthy injury list were contributing factors. We wish Gary and his family the very best of luck in the future."

There will be undoubted sympathy for Ella. A freakish rash of injuries obliged him to use 48 players in competitive matches, and symptomatic of a flawed structure was the aforementioned Contepomi gaffe. In an Australian set-up, Ella would have been more a strategist, with plenty of expertise around him.

It will be interesting to see how Kidney works with Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan and who Kidney brings in alongside him, for Dawson also intimated he will have more autonomy in choosing his coaching team than Ella had.

Kidney takes over an operation which in the last two years has seen the departure of Alan Gaffney, Williams, video analyst Brett Igoe, manager Ken Ging, fitness coach Aidan O'Connell (who is going to Munster) and Ella, while assistant coach Willie Anderson will leave on Friday and fly to Australia to link up with Williams and the Scottish squad for their six-match tour.

Furthermore, the Leinster PMC are dispensing with their excellent PR officer Tom McCormack, though he has a year left on his contract. In a year when their public relations has never been worse, they have decided to shoot the messenger.

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