Long viewed as a dead duck, the embattled coach is being supported by his players who want to see an end to the culture of poorly performing coaches being automatically terminated.
The former All Black legend has presided over one of the worst campaigns in Blues history but having accepted a multitude of shortcomings, Kirwan, the players and the wider administration of the Blues are now working through plans on how the problems could be fixed in 2016.
As the Herald revealed last week, one of the proposed changes is to bring Crusaders assistant Tabai Matson to Auckland.
Matson is thought to be coming to mastermind the Blues' faltering attack - one of the biggest weaknesses of their 2015 season.
The Blues will bolster their coaching team with other new personnel - with contestable positions expected to be advertised in June.
The overall objective is to create a management group that enables the team to improve tactically and technically.
The extensive review conducted by the Blues in the last few weeks - in which the players have had significant input - also identified issues with recruitment, retention and consistency of selection.
Given the raft of failings - apparent long before they were identified in the review - Kirwan's chances of surviving have widely been viewed as bleak.
But there has been reluctance among the squad and the executive to cut Kirwan loose without fully exploring all the options to change things next year.
If the right coaching team is put around Kirwan, the players believe he has the vision, passion and respect to lead the club to a better future.
"It is about building collective leadership," says New Zealand Rugby Players' Association boss Rob Nichol. "Everyone has to trust the process and understand that the days of leadership being about one man [head coach] are gone.
"Being a successful team doesn't happen straight away. It is my opinion that the Blues are on the brink of having a really strong culture. From the players' perspective it is not about throwing people out by any stretch. It is not about individuals. It is about creating an environment where there is collective responsibility and we think that is the right way to go."
The situation at the Blues is similar to the one in which the Highlanders found themselves at the end of 2013.
After an awful campaign, player feedback about head coach Jamie Joseph was non-ambiguous: he was seen as possessing a number of qualities but could only be retained if he agreed to making significant and wholesale changes.
After all the problems had been identified in the first phase of the Blues' review, Kirwan had to agree that he accepted them for the process to continue.
He did and then returned to present the board with a vision of how to reshape the franchise and offer solutions to the areas of weakness.
The culture of collective responsibility that the players want to see instilled, includes a desire to see robust and open debate among the coaching group.
The best coaching teams in New Zealand are those - such as the Chiefs and All Blacks - where the assistants are encouraged to express their views without fear of favour.
Recruitment, too, has been fingered as an area where there needs to be more collaboration: not just across the Blues coaching team, but with other stakeholders and particularly Auckland Rugby.
Despite regular criticism of the union's talent identification and player development, Auckland Rugby's high performance programme has been hugely successful.
There were 51 ITM Cup players last year who began professional life at the Auckland Academy. The process of ensuring the best ones end up at the Blues needs to be improved.
Kirwan also had to accept that he needs to be more patient and work harder at developing young players. At the end of his first season in charge he off-loaded Malakai Fekitoa and Waisake Naholo who have both been outstanding for the Highlanders.
He also let go Marty McKenzie who has proven himself to be a valuable addition to the Chiefs.
"We only have 150,000 registered players. Coaches aren't dime a dozen and we need to maximise the talent we have, " says Nichol.
- By Gregor Paul of the New Zealand Herald
