Eddie O'Sullivan

Eddie O'Sullivan (born 21 November 1958) is an Irish rugby union coach, player (wing & fly-half) and a former Gaelic footballer.

He is a former head coach of Buccaneers RFC the United States national rugby union team and of the Ireland national rugby union team.

O'Sullivan played for the Garryowen Football Club during the 1970s and 1980s at fly-half and wing, while teaching physical education, maths, and science in Mountbellew, County Galway.

He started his coaching career at Monivea Rugby Club in north-east Galway in the early 1980s while still a teacher.

In 1982, he played corner forward on the Mountbellew Moylough Gaelic football team.

He played for Munster between 1983 and 1986 on the wing and got capped for Ireland A in 1984.

He also played Gaelic Football.

He worked as a development officer for the Irish Rugby Football Union between 1988 and 1991.

During that time and up until 1992, he was the fitness advisor to the Irish Rugby Team, under head coach Ciaran Fitzgerald.

He followed this with spells coaching at Blackrock College, (first as assistant, then as head coach) Connacht as assistant coach and head coach between 1992 and 1996 and the Irish Under-21 side.

The Under-21 side won the 1996 Triple Crown, beating Clive Woodward's England.

Between 1997 and 1999, while working in the US he continued to coach the Buccaneers Rugby Club in Connacht, who won promotion from Division 3 to Division 1 of the All-Ireland League and reaching the Top 4 of the tournament in their 1st season in Division 1.

He was fitness advisor to the Galway Senior Football Team, managed by John O'Mahony, which won two All-Ireland Senior Football Titles in 1998 and 2001.

After failing to secure a high-profile coaching position in Ireland, O'Sullivan moved to America to coach the US Eagles, where he worked as forwards coach at the 1999 Rugby World Cup He also worked as technical director to USA Rugby between 1997 and 1999.

As technical director he developed and delivered the USA Rugby Coach Education Programme, which certifier coaches at Foundation, Level I, Level II and Level III.

He was then appointed as the assistant coach of the Irish national side in 1999 as the Backs Coach.

During his time as assistant coach he was credited with advancing Irish back play considerably while working with players such as Brian O'Driscoll, Ronan O'Gara, Peter Stringer, Rob Henderson, Shane Horgan and Denis Hickie.

In 2001 he was appointed head coach following the controversial departure of Warren Gatland.

In his first year Ireland finished third-place in the 2002 Six Nations Championship.

Ireland also defeated Australia twice (2002 & 2006) and South Africa twice (2004 & 2006).

O'Sullivan's Ireland went on to achieve second place in 2003, only losing the Grand Slam in the final match against England.

At the 2003 Rugby World Cup his team lost to France in the quarter-finals.

Ireland again missed out in the 2004 Six Nations Championship, losing the Grand Slam to France this time, but went on to win Ireland's first Triple Crown in 19 years.

During his tenure as head coach to Ireland O'Sullivan won 3 Triple Crowns, in 2004, 2006 and 2007.

Ireland defeated England in the Six Nations Championship over four consecutive years (2004–2007) including a record victory (43–13) at the iconic Croke Park Stadium in 2007.

While transitioning the team during the 2005, O'Sullivan's side finished in third place with defeats by France and Wales.

In 2006 defeat to France cost Ireland the Championship.

In 2007 again Ireland lost the championship to France on points difference.

On the final day of the tournament despite defeating Italy heavily in Rome (51–24), France defeated Scotland with a controversial try in the final minute of the game to again deny Ireland a 6 Nations Championship.

The fact that the French played later in the day than Ireland gave them an advantage of knowing exactly what score they needed to secure the Championship.

This fuelled the discussion about games not kicking off at the same time on the final day of the tournament.

O'Sullivan also coached the Barbarians R.F.C. to victory over the 2007 World Cup Champions South Africa in November 2007.

In August 2007, O'Sullivan's contract with the IRFU was extended for a further four years, which meant that he was contracted to be in charge of the Irish Rugby Team until 2012.

Part of the terms of the contract allowed him to leave the position temporarily to coach the 2009 Lions squad, were he to be offered that role.

Soon, however, he was the subject of press criticism after a run of poor results.

Ireland turned in poor performances in the opening matches of the World Cup against the lower rated Georgia and Namibia.

They had previously also struggled in pre-tournament games against Italy and Scotland.

He was head coach of Biarritz Olympique, who play in the second tier of France, until October 2015.

O'Sullivan was born in Youghal, Cork, Ireland.

After attending the Christian Brothers school in the town, he graduated from Thomond College, which a decade later became part of the University of Limerick.