1 week Ago By Hugh Farrelly
Did you pick up the theme this week after last weekend’s events at Croke Park? It was hard to miss. Leinster’s are ‘too dominant’ was the general gist. This superiority is ‘not good for Irish rugby’.
There is ‘too much of a gap’ with the other provinces, and it could get even wider, given Leinster’s ‘unfair advantage’. There were further swipes at Leinster’s recruitment of RG Snyman, Jordie Barrett and Rabah Slimani into an already stacked squad and, most preposterously, even suggestions that the province should have given a chunk of the reported €1.7m they made from the game to Munster – you know, for showing up, like.
You wonder what Leo Cullen and the rest of the Leinster gang made of it all. Being harangued for excellence is a strange one, even in the land of bregrudgery. What are they supposed to do, deliberately underachieve to bring their rivals closer? Hold the game at a smaller venue because the revenue they made from Croke Park was too much for others to bear? A damned if you do, derided if you don’t, situation.
Over the last few years, Leinster’s failure to land a trophy has been greeted with glee in many quarters and accompanied by assertions that they were ‘mentally fragile’ and too lacking ‘when it counted’. Yet, when they win as comprehensively as they did last weekend, the narrative quickly switches to Leinster being ‘too dominant’ and in a sustainable way that is ‘not good for Irish rugby’. Which is it? There is no need to have an affiliation to Leinster rugby to admire how they do business.
The excesses of the elite, private school rugby production lines in Dublin may stick in the craw but the way the province harmonises the schools with their professional franchise systems is stunning to behold. The competition is so intense within these foundries that when the best players make it through the bottleneck, they are perfectly prepared for the step up to the pro game – imbued with the ‘Leinster way’. While there are undoubtedly advantages of population and private school concentration around Leinster’s south dublin base, those advantages existed during Munster’s period of dominance also – they just were not exploited as efficiently.
With the talent production line set, the branding is also well ahead of their rivals. Leinster know how to put on a show, a family friendly show, and that brings in the punters – which is why you can hire Croke Park with the expectation of filling it. They also push the brand around the province these days whereas, in the past, the province was content to exist in its D4 bubble, thus creating the dark days of ‘Lunsterism’ when their southern rivals were in their pomp.
No one can argue that Leinster do not have a significant financial edge on their rivals but these are not ill-gotten gains, rather they are the result of clear thinking and good decision-making. Generating so much talent from within has meant more central contracts which has meant more savings over the years – sound financial planning that has benefited the province and the national team in tandem. And that is, arguably, the key point for the nay-sayers to contemplate.
People have short memories. When the Aviva opened back in 2010, the IRFU struggled to sell it out for internationals at a time when the provinces, littered with imported non-Irish qualified stars, were the biggest show in town. Thankfully, led by David Nucifora a few years later, the focus switched to using the provinces to develop homegrown players for Ireland – and Leinster led the way.
Ireland now consistently rank among the elite rugby nations in the world and Leinster are the primary reason why, yet they are supposed to listen to complaints that the way they do business is ‘bad for Irish rugby’? It is not Leinster’s fault that Munster let Snyman go. Nor do they have to apologise for selling out Croke Park or creating the funds to bring in big names. And they certainly do not have to apologise for dominating Ireland team selections through their hard work bringing homegrown players through – that is, or should be, the goal of all the provinces.
Yes, there is a big gap in Irish rugby between Leinster and the rest but, rather than complain about it and take swipes, maybe see about trying to close it?.
