Philips Sports Manager of the Year 2009 Philips Sports Manager of the Year 2009 The Philips Sports Manager of the Year Awards for 2009 were held on Wednesday, 9 December at the Shelbourne Hotel, Dublin. Declan Kidney won the award for the second consecutive year after guiding Ireland to their first Six Nations Championship since 1985, and their first Grand Slam since 1948, following up with an unbeaten autumn season against Australia, Argentina and Fiji. Kidney had won the monthly award twice during the year. Also honoured for their achievements in 2009 were Heineken Cup-winning coach with Leinster Rugby Michael Cheika, League of Ireland-winning manager Pat Fenlon,
2009 end-of-year rugby union internationals 2009 end-of-year rugby union internationals The 2009 end of year rugby internationals, also known as the Autumn internationals in the Northern Hemisphere, saw Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Argentina, tour the northern hemisphere. The headline event of the series was an attempted Grand Slam tour of the Home Nations by Australia. This year marked the 25th anniversary of the Wallabies' only previous Grand Slam tour, which saw the Wallabies sweep all four matches and saw David Campese, Mark Ella, Nick Farr-Jones, and Michael Lynagh achieve international prominence. Also, for the second consecutive year, a Bledisloe Cup match was contested