It was one of those jokes that isn’t really a joke; the double-edged compliment which contains just enough of the truth to be totally credible. Near the inception of the United Rugby Championship, Bulls head coach Jake White famously quipped the two best sides in the competition were Leinster A and Leinster B. Stormers supremo John Dobson complimented the Dublin province as “the Crusaders of the north” a couple of years later.
The hemlock enters silently at the ear. There has been no shortage of applause emanating from South Africa for Leinster, but up until last weekend it had only been used as a slow poison to lull Leo Cullen’s men into a false sense of security. The formula had been clear: wait until another titanic Leinster effort expired at the latter stages of the Champions Cup, whisper the flattery in the inevitable psychological ‘trough’ which followed, then launch a violent ambush in the semi-finals of the URC.
It had worked in the inaugural season in 2022, when White’s Bulls surprised the men in blue 27-26 at the RDS. One year later, Graham Rowntree’s Munster took their cue from South Africa and overturned the odds by a single point at the Aviva Stadium, before beating the Stormers in the final. The ex-England forwards coach called Leinster “a great team… with very nice skills” before Jack Crowley sank the great blue dreadnought with his late drop-goal. In 2024, it was the Bulls who left the Dublin dream of ‘the double’ in tatters once again with a 25-20 victory at Loftus Versveld.
White was at it again before the grand final on Saturday. He had chastised the assembled local media in midweek: “You guys are harsh on Leinster, but they are the benchmark for the Bulls.” Except this time, the psychological massage did not have the expected outcome. On the Saturday after the Wednesday, it was the men in blue who hid in ambush, before roaring out with a controlled violence in all the areas that mattered.
They achieved their aim through raw forward dominance at the set-piece and in contact, by delivering the kind of blunt-force trauma Leinster teams have probably forgotten at the pointy end of the last four or five seasons; by remembering the lost art of challenging an opponent at their point of greatest strength.
On this occasion, White’s praise after the 32-7 defeat was entirely fulsome and heartfelt, and transparently without the edge of any pre-game agenda.
“You have to understand, this is not a normal rugby team,” he stressed.
“It’s just a different league altogether and that’s why Leinster supporters are probably so disappointed because they were waiting for that performance the whole year – and we just happened to get the 40 minutes they were waiting for the whole year.
“I say again to all the Irish, I don’t think they give the credit to that Leinster team. They are well coached, they are fantastic guys as well.”
There was just the hint of a suggestion Leinster are operating at a level above the rest of the URC. White then grasped the real nettle, taking the opportunity to underline the need for far greater strength in South Africa’s four home franchises which I observed here.
“The lesson I have taken from that [loss] is we need more international players to play in our province. I need what Leinster have. I need to be able to fight fire with fire.
“They are sitting in the coaching box, 19–0 up, and [they] say, ‘RG [Snyman] – warm up’. They put him on and let him menace the defence like he did tonight.
“I keep banging the same drum. I have coached some of the best players in the world, players who have won the player of the year [award] twice.
“If you’re playing against 23 internationals – I think today Leinster were short with only 22 – there is a complete difference. That’s a phenomenal provincial team.”
If South Africa are to stay in Europe and become genuine threats at the play-off stages of the URC and Champions Cup, the four franchises need deeper squads, and a withdrawal from the Rugby Championship and the year-round drain on playing resources it entails. White knows it, and people should listen to the man closest to the furnace, not those nodding from an armchair.
The reason the lesson stands more chance of being learned this time around is the Dubliners trumped the Bulls in the suits of the game where they are usually the masters. In regular season play, the Bulls dominated the scrum and scored quickly from the lineout positions their scrum penalties created.
The Bulls averaged three and a half scrum penalty wins per game and won 37% of all scrum feeds on both sides to penalty during the regular season. When the ball went to the corner, they scored more efficiently from phases one-three of the ensuing lineout than any other team in the league. Their total of 80 tries scored derived from the lowest possession base of the entire URC.
White admitted as much in the build-up to the final. The scrum and short-range maul were at the forefront of his consciousness.
“[The scrum] has been an element we have tried to improve on, and there is no doubt our scrum has made significant strides in the last couple of seasons. That’s through personnel as well, which you can understand.
“I mean, why would a guy like Rabah Slimani be signed by Leinster? There is only one reason, because they see that as an area where they want make sure they can improve. A guy like Rabah Slimani comes along and there’s something in the middle of the scrum [and] lineout that they needed.”
The front row is one area where White can field the strength in depth he desires with all his voorspelers fit and firing. Gerhard Steenekamp has established himself as the first-choice back-up to Ox Nche for the Springboks at loose-head prop, with one of the best young all-round tight forwards in the Republic [Jan-Hendrik Wessels] sitting just behind him. On the other side of the scrum, monstrous 144kg ex-Harlequin Wilco Louw would start for many other top-tier international sides, and he has ample backup in the form of ever-reliable Mornay Smith and young giant Francois Klopper. In between White can pick from Wessels, Johan Grobbelaar and ‘the angry warthog’ Akker van der Merwe.
Even the legendary Buurman van Zyl would be pleased with that lot: those men are worthy successors to the lustrous mantle of Northern Transvaal front row play. In the continued absence of Tadhg Furlong and with Slimani glued to his bench role, young Thomas Clarkson was chosen to oppose that formidable array from the key position of tight-head prop.
The Blackrock College man and Leinster Schools Rugby Senior Cup winner is a typical product of the developmental model in the region. Blackrock are one of the traditional ‘big six’ schools [the others are Terenure, Belvedere, Saint Mary’s, Saint Michael’s and Clongowes Wood] which form part of the Leinster Schools feeder system, although there are plenty of other notables such as Castleknock, Wesley and Gonzaga. Players emerge from a school system which is already the ‘equivalent-plus’ of a network of dedicated rugby academies. School matches are extremely well attended and enjoy a high media profile, thanks to journalists scattered like acorns from the branches of the same tree, like ex-‘Rock’-man, Irish Times writer Gerry Thornley.
Some 80% of the 23-man matchday squad selected for the Six Nations decider against France came from fee-paying schools which enjoy the best support in terms of coaching and equipment. Leinster coaches will attend schools training sessions regularly to upskill individuals and teach the systems being used at a higher level. Thirty-seven members of the current Leinster senior squad still live within a 30-mile radius of Dublin. That seamless network of support frequently enables the province to push players through to the top level far more quickly than ‘normal’.
Clarkson is probably only the third-ranked tight-head at Leinster [behind Furlong and Slimani] and he has still only registered 30 starts over the past five seasons – but within the same timeframe he has already accumulated six full Ireland caps at the youthful age [for a prop] of 25. The match-up against Wessels and the rest of an imposing Bulls front row represented the biggest test of his career to date, and he proved more than ready for the task at hand.
The first scrum of the game often tends to establish refereeing perceptions for rest of it, and it was there Clarkson did the damage.
The tight-head wins the hit and takes that vital first step forward immediately afterwards, and even winger James Lowe is moved to run in and congratulate him for his efforts. Leinster won the scrum penalty count 3-1 directly from the Clarkson-Wessels battle, and the Bulls man ended up in some unfamiliar positions indeed.
Leinster’s scrum dominance enabled them to create more short-range driving starters from lineout than their opponents, and they had scored two tries from such situations within the first half hour of the game.
Leinster dominated in the two areas of the game where the Bulls expected to build their platform, and they stopped them on 31 attacking phases in the home 22 in the last 10 minutes of the first half. That was game, set and match to the Dubliners. Scrum, maul, and a little bit of Jordie Barrett magic from a set move: as the song says, who could ask for anything more?
White may have only been joking a few years ago when he jested tongue-in-cheek Leinster had the two best teams in the competition, but it created a sense of expectation around a ‘Dubliner Double’ of URC and Champions Cup that has been hard to overcome. It has been more agony than ecstasy: ‘Lose the first. Struggle with the second’.
Now Leinster have at least completed one part of the bargain, and they have done it by going back to their forwards and bullying the Bulls in the showpiece match. It has underlined the hardships of South Africa’s ‘global season’ in red ink and restored some faith in the Irish production line on the east coast. There is a ways to go towards that coveted fifth star but Leinster, and Clarkson, have put their best foot forward.
Nobody would want to dilute Leinster’s academy model, why would they? That Ulsters’ academy roster is almost half the size of Leinsters’ points to discrepancies in either player development success, funding provision, or perhaps even both! What I think would help is greater transparency around the funding of each province and how this connects to the IRFU strategic plan. It’s clear that each province is uniquely different in its own way and a ‘one size fits all’ approach would not be the way forward. However when there is a province that has gone from blazing a path 25 years ago to find itself languishing at the bottom end of the URC & EPCR comps, and showing few signs of improvement, questions can and should be asked. As I said, the IRFU are the controlling body and the buck stops with them.
I think the main understanding has to be that there is little point in diluting Leinster to help Ulster. Ulster needs to find a way to be successful again and improve their own model - but not by a process of artifical ‘levelling up’. It has to be through organic growth.
At the start of Andy Farrell’s tneure he was only picking half a dozen Leinster players to start for Ireland, it was Leinster’s domestic success that persuaded him otherwise, so I’d be inclined to see it as part of a natural cycle of dominance.
Ulster have had deep squads and good crops of youngsters coming through before, so how best to do it again? Which was my original question to you.
No and that’s yet another indicator symptomatic of how Ulster are so severely underperforming relative to Leinster and there’s absolutely no doubt whatsoever that Leinster’s model is light years ahead in funding, structures and outcomes!
I presume you don’t have a view on Leinster’s age grade numbers but if I was to hazard a guess, it would be several factors higher than Ulsters.
All in all, it’s a real sad indictment on the irfu, as the controlling body of ALL provinces in Ireland.
Just a recent e.g. off the top of my head and a regular Ireland squad player. I cannot think of any at all who have moved in the opposite direction, can you?
As you agreed earlier it is more probable that Ulster have botched their planning and recruitment over the last decade, and Leinster just have a more relaible model.
His 3 Ireland caps doesn’t exactly put him at the top of any hall of fame though, and more often players were more or less dumped there for a contract after they had served their purpose at Leinster. Certainly once they were beyond their peak.
Looking at the listed academy players shows Leinster with 22 and Ulster with 12, who knows maybe that is their limit? Their age grade numbers are c120 but Leinster don’t publish theirs so tricky to compare strike rates, unless you know better from your time there?
Nick Timoney played for St. Marys.
But you’re asking the wrong question. There were 8 Ulster boys in Ireland’s u18 23-man squad. Why aren’t they progressing as fast as Leinster youngsters?
https://ulster.rugby/content/8-ulster-players-named-in-ireland-u18-mens-squad-to-face-scotland
So who would you point to as Ulster’s shining examples of successful Leinster imports?
Except they weren’t.
Sure they’ve made some horrendous decisions, show me the club that hasn’t, but as ike said somewhere in one of his rambling prose replies, financially doping a squad never lasts - if that’s the start and finish of the plan.
And for the record, some of the worst ‘decisions’ they made were foisted on them from Leinster!
It’s a miracle they weren’t lifting the CC over those years! 😉😂
So Jackman said the Leinster budget was 2-3m higher than the French cap, what do you reckon?
You’re more than welcome to start a go fund me, Ed. With your fairly recent, days old new affiliation with Irish rugby. Try and get Graham Henry over to Munster?
Go all out and get one of the oil barons that own premier league soccer clubs to be the new performance director at the IRFU?
Or you could just go door-to-door around Ulster and demand that young kids start playing rugby? I’m shocked nobody has tried that yet. I’ll lend you my Skoda.
Jesus, build a new school in Belfast! Call it Rugby Central. Get shuttle buses from Cork and Galway so we don’t miss any potential prospects? My actual real job is in the sector of social housing so I could try to help. Might be a few transferable skills there.
I’d like to help your efforts to save Irish rugby in any way I can!
Exactly right!
They also had the fortune of their better players either not regularly getting capped for Ireland because of depth in certain positions, or they were waiting out their 3 year residency rules.
They didn’t have to share the bulk of that squad with National training camps and had them fresh for the entire season.
It’s obvious by now that Ed isn’t even reading these responses, just banging in with his head full of anger.
Maybe he’s actually an Ireland fan who got very upset by our recent 1/4 final loss?
It’s more that they’ve spent their money, not that they didn’t get any!
WATCH FATHER TED! NOW!!!!
At least, this is an admission that their fate is largely in their own hands. They made some bum buys [Kitshoff never worked out - Angus Bell will] and some poor appointments. It happened in Leinster too before Stuart joined them in 2016 - they’d finished 1-5 and bottom of their Champions Cup group.
“They’re skint”, as Leinster advise them to eat cake…
Richie Murphy is looking after Ulster. I have made the not unreasonable point that Ulster can only back youth now (they're skint).
Prior to the Ulster Job, Murphy looked after the Irish U20s. For three years in the 6Nations.
They played 15. Won 14 and drew 1.
Again, he's with Ulster!
Lancaster is at Connaght now. He was great at developing young talent 13 years ago. He's only better at it now with his experience. Relative to their size and resources, Lancaster at Connacht is comparable totally to everybody's favourite south African at Leinster! There is zero imbalance.
You're great craic lad, but this is far too indulgent and it's boring repeating myself.
Episode 1 of season 2 of Father Ted is called ‘Hell’. It's the one in which Ted tries to explain spacial awareness to Dougal with plastic, toy cows.
These ones are “small! These ones are far away”!
Well worth your time. Give it a watch.
I take your point, to a degree, on how they’ve operated previously but that doesn’t feel like an available and financially sustainable path these days. Developing their own, widening the game and building the structure to deliver these things should be the more attractive path in the long run. Both for them and for Ireland.
Then again, maybe ike is on the money (for once!) and it would fall flat on its arse. Anyway, as it stands it doesn’t look like we’ll get to find out!
I think you’re driving down the wrong track Ed.
Look back at previously successful Ulster teams and they had great coaches with deep squads full of quality overseas players.
Up to 2006 they had Alan Solomons and Mak McCall coaching them, during the revival after 2012 they had David Humphreys as DoR and a very deep squad featuring NZers like John Afoa and Jared Payne, and Saffers like Muller, Wannenberg and Pienaar.
Just looking at their centres they had quality operators like Darren Cave, Luke Marshall, Ian Whitten [who had such a successful career at Exeter], Chris Farrell and Stuart Olding. That’s a very deep group.
If a club has already enjoyed two major cycles of success in the pro era they have the infrastructure to do it again.
Atm their squad only has two non-international overseas players in it [Werner Kok and Juarno Augustus] and their coaching looks to be a notch down on what it was. That change has nothing to do with junior pathways so better coaching and signings ought to be the priority.
Who said anything about ‘press ganging’ anyone into anything? Now who’s twisting words?
Absolutely believe SL would have been highly sought after, he’s a world class coach and I’d expect him to have his pick of some top opportunities. No surprise in that whatsoever but I wouldn’t expect someone like him, if he had chosen a gig like Ulster to be personally implementing the schools/youth/academy initiatives. I would on the other hand expect him to be all over it like a rash to make sure that others were in place to drive it, unless ofc you’re going to tell me that he pays no attention whatsoever to these aspects and doesn’t see them as having any value?
As I’ve already said, the solution sits in positively promoting and driving wider participation from early teen stages and schools. Which part of that did you miss?
Now ike says it’s not going to work because there isn’t enough interest in sport participation around Belfast and across Ulster, and where there is interest, GAA has an unbreakable stronghold over them. He could be correct, I don’t know if he is or he isn’t but my point is why would they not try?
The bottom line is Ulster Rugby have gone from the highest levels and leading the way in Ireland to a pretty dire position near the bottom of the pile. And there hasn’t been anything from you guys on how they should be approaching this other than just accept it’s too difficult.
Call it like I see it.
I’ve asked you about how and where that support should manifest and you haven’t answered, so I think it’s safe to say you don’t really know!
You just cannot help yourself can you Ed?😉
Believe or not Stuart had a wide choice where he wanted to go. He chose Connacht. Obv IRFU would want to keep a coach like that cirulating in Irish rugby, and why should he be press-ganged into Belfast as you indicate?
Yes, excellent retort for anyone who is happy to leave things in the ‘too socio-economically difficult’ box!
Nobody is talking about dictating, only you. Schools are generally open to positive approaches with support, the RFU and Scottish Rugby are both active in this respect. It’s also reasonable to assume that things weren’t always as advanced in Dublin as they are now but some positive thinking and proactive people, backed with resources, put some plans together, had some discussions and look where they are now. The bottom line is that Ulster are in a real poor spot, have been for years and it’s showing no signs of improvement anytime soon. That can either be left in the ‘too difficult’ box, or it can be dealt with through initiatives from people who know what they’re doing and, critically, are properly resourced. Which would you prefer to see for them?
An excellent retort by any standard IB.
Expert coaches exist across the land and the IRFU already funds plenty. Ulster own their academy and who owns Ulster?
If you go to school in the North and rugby/tag rugby isn’t even on the PE curriculum until 12/13 as opposed to 7 or 8 in Leinster, how is that the IRFU’s fault? Even then, it’s only certain schools in the North that will offer it. On what basis would they go up to the North (strictly speaking, another country in the eyes of some) and dictate their schools programme?
The ABs used to be light years ahead of the pack because their eventual test superstars had been playing structured, competitive rugby from an average age of 5/6! On top of kicking it around the yard from the age they could walk with their rugby mad parents and older siblings.
Have you somehow gotten the impression that the Leinster system is not working for Irish rugby? What is that based on? The SARU should just stop competing because despite their back to back RWC’s, all 4 of their URC teams aren’t contesting semi-finals every year?
A couple of mining towns basically provided a Welsh team in the 70’s that were unplayable. Queensland in the old Super 10 provided the spine of an Oz team that were the first to win multiple world cups and in the same decade. The ABs population density is well documented with 35% of the population living around one city.
Is England’s match day 23 equally represented by mid-counties players, tough as nails northerners, a couple from Cornwall, a pack of manc’s and a lone Geordie? Ever?
It’s cute they won’t relegate the Falcons but has a Geordie test player ever hit 50 caps?
It’s ok not to understand geography. It’s also ok not to understand sport. Not understanding the geography of sport is something different entirely.
What is it about resourcing schools with expert coaches to drive participation, skills and talent that you don’t understand? The competition framework they play in can be anything you like but the egg has to come before the chicken here and it’s on the irfu to fund it.
As things stand they are content to sit in their Dublin ivory and place an ever increasing stack of chips chasing stars when actually, it’s incumbent on them to get their sleeves rolled up and set about finding, coaching and developing another few hundred ikes (god help us…) that would be lost to rugby otherwise!!!
Oh, Ed…
My point is that there isn’t currently an All-Ireland schools game and maybe that’s a trick they are missing. The provinces have a regular mini-tournament I think at U19, against each other and it happens at amateur club level. It’s not getting them at 14/15 though.
Ulster’s funding (and the other provinces) is still comparable to Leinster on a pound-for-pound basis because… it’s relative to the player size! There still aren’t enough playing the sport at age grade in Ulster. That’s still the point!
Even if you financially dope a squad it will eventually age out. You can do nothing without increased participation. That is the next step for them and still the reason for the drop off against Leinster.
My only chip from my playing days is on my knee. A big fat prop fell on me in training and that was the end of the road for me. If anything, it’s props I still have the evils for.
If I see one of those big fat puddings standing in Tesco, I always throw a pineapple or two at their big fat heads!!!! Then hide - because I’m a coward.
I’m great with the Geography. Auckland is the biggest city in Oz! You’re welcome!
Well at least you got one point correct, and that is the need for far better schools & youth academies because it’s nowhere compared to Dublin, absolutely nowhere. Jeez that’s what I’ve been banging on about and it should be funded by their IRFU budget, rather than paying for expensive imports chasing a 5th star!
I wonder if you might just be carrying a small chip or two on those shoulders, maybe from your playing days in Ulster…?
Ps your expertise on the demographics of cities in Ireland is right up their with your kiwi georgraphy nous!
Third city! Dublin, Cork then Belfast - by population and not just rugby population.
It’s been steady decline for Ulster for some time. Their biggest problem is around the fans. They seem to think they are some under-achieving dynasty. They aren’t. They are a well supported club capable of the odd upset and routinely making the 1/4’s of the bigger comps every 2/3 seasons. Ravenhill would be a decent Friday night out but the warm, overpriced larger is often better than the stuff happening on the pitch.
Their marquee signings - which have tended to be excellent - have papered over the cracks. With their current budget they’ll have to back youth, no other option.
For me, I don’t think schools rugby in the North is on the same level as in the South. Ulster have the schools pathways and their own academies but not comparable talent.
Again, Kudos Leinster. Going straight to source with their investments.
I guess we’ll see but they’ve been falling off the pace for a good few years now, and don’t look like they’ve figured out a path to return anytime soon!
The squad investment to replace those that departed will be informative, particularly when compared to the other provinces.
They are in a trough for sure but it’s part of a natural cycle not either a shortage or unfair weighting of investment.
Yeah, meanwhile back in the here and now they’re left with a rookie head coach, 3rd from bottom finish, no play offs, no champions cup and eight senior players released. Impressive for irelands first CC winners and the province that’s centred around irelands second city, don’t you think?
Let’s see how it plays out then compared to Leinster and the other two!
Well one thing beyond dispute is that Ulster released no fewer than eight senior players this season, failed to make the URC play offs and looked like lucky losers to even make the challenge cup. Pretty poor all round for the province of irelands second city, so let’s see who the eight replacements are, if they’re even replaced at all, and how that compares to the rest!
They're already joyful to watch if just for 50 mins.
When they consistently get it going for the 80 mins they can certainly be a force.
I think the general standard in the URC is up year on year and is a great league to develop in.
They've some savage young talent coming straight through their own academy.
Four full Boks in the same squad [look it up] and I didn’t mention Robbie Diack either! Leinster have never had that much import input. So clearly they were getting the investment in their squad from overseas and in terms of infrastructure [stadium], which is a huge undertaking.
I don’t think you have. At least, I haven’t seen it.
Pretty sure I’ve covered that elsewhere.
So the RFU and Scottish Rugby both fund school coaching initiatives, not sure about the others but as you have pointed out, someone who knows their stuff is teaching the Dublin kids pro systems.
As for marquee players, pretty sure they were a one-at-a-time kinda deal and not all at once, a la Leinster? Oh and Tommy Seymour only played for Ulster (with his 7 appearances!) while he was eligible for Ireland so not an import, now who’s being disingenuous? And if Simon Danielli is part of your argument then you really are clutching at straws, unless ofc you’re talking about his time starring with Scotland when they absolutely dominated the 6N…🤣
So are you saying you want the IRFU to invest in Belfast independent schools rugby?
Ulster itself has prob been home to far more top overseas players than Leinster. Not so very long ago they had Ruan Pienaar, Johan Muller, Pedrie Wannenburg, BJ Botha, Tommy Seymour and Simon Danielli all in the same squad - all Bok or Scotland internationals.
Leinster have never had that many imports on their books. They have also completely overhauled the old Ravenhill stadium in the meantime.
So how does that signify lack of investment?
I’m still curious where you see this investment entering Ed. At schools level? By transferring Dublin talent north by force post academy?
What resources do you mean and how would your scheme work in practice?
I just see a very lopsided investment picture. The province with the next biggest city is almost on its arse and yet the union are chasing Champions Cups elsewhere with resources that could/should be used to help them. Not to mention failing in their chase too!
RG, Jordie and Slimani represent the first serious overseas signings Leinster had had for years! Over the last few seasons the only overseas guys have been naturalized as IQPs [JGP and Lowe]. You seem to have a serious anti-Leinster agenda 🤣
Every single amateur club that is affiliated with the IRFU.
Wouldn’t it stand to reason that the province with the most clubs and the biggest clubs would get most funding?
Presumably within the range of their operating budgets? The IRFU would had to have sanctioned the signings.
Connacht currently have the smallest stadium of the 4 provinces and an operating budget of around 5 million euros. Again, the smallest.
They currently have 2 nailed on match-day 23 players for Ireland.
Do you see how this is all relative?
There are simply fewer rugby players. It is no more complicated than that.
Ulster are in the game they are just a good 10-15 years behind Leinster with their pathways. Every sport is driven by participation first and foremost.
The IRFU - for their own informed reasons - chose some time ago to invest heavily in Leinster and it’s schools pathways.
Rugby currently and historically has been, stronger in Leinster. That’s just how it is. There are more than 70 rugby clubs in Leinster. Plenty of the bigger ones will be stacked with a 1st, 2nd and 3rd senior men’s team, multiple age grade teams and usually boys and girls teams for each of them.
A player like Stephen Ferris, Ian Henderson, John Cooney, Jacob Stockdale etc will never slip through the system.
Even Paul O’Connell went straight through club to country having only picked up a rugby ball at 16.
Players won’t get missed by the system no matter how dominant one production line is.
Agree, it’s great success. The question is, which grass roots are the profits diverted towards?
Hence the dominance of LEINSTER in the national team!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jesus wept - NONE of this is difficult. At all!🙄
The only measure by which Ireland is an outlier is the advent of professionalism. Their priorities shifted towards their national team. They weren’t previously providing players from 4 ‘clubs’ but 4 ‘provinces’ which all had their own proud history. Tribalism.
Ulster - aside from a Euro cup in ‘99 - basically peaked pre-professionalism. They were routinely beating test teams in the 80’s. The Wallabies included.
Munster famously done the AB’s 12-0 in the late 70’s. The provinces used to be de-facto test teams outside of the 5 Nations.
A Leinster v Munster game in the late 90’s would literally have been 300-400 in attendance. They sold out Croke earlier this season for the same fixture with the gate profit going straight to the IRFU and back into the game at grass roots.
That is utter success by every possible measure.
Yeah, I get it. Driving into every village the GAA flags are everywhere, same in the north too. Apart from the towns that are all Union Jacks! So what, there’s more than enough latent talent in Ulster to build a pathway back to the top, the part that’s lacking is the appetite in D4!
It’s beside the point. Ulster isn’t a million miles away from being a basket case relative to the heights they once attained, far more so than Munster atm and it is clear as day that they will need significant support and investment. Way more than just a rookie under 20s coach in his first gig as head honcho and yet Connacht get a high calibre operator and Munster get a seasoned kiwi straight from the SR finals!
Watching Leinster succeed with their pathway is genuinely impressive but when the Dublin driven priorities thereafter are still to then buy in top tier internationals for Leinster (including one they conned out of Munster!), rather than invest in a struggling province crying out for it, then their heads are firmly up their arses. Unless ofc, there’s another agenda at play? You know, some sort of ‘socio economic’ kinda thing…
You should travel to Donegal, Ed.
Find yourself a nice Irish speaking area. Stand up on a table in the local pub - “lads, I say - where’s the nearest rugger club?”
God be with you!
Johnny’s feelings were hurt just like mine.
That’s IB’s assessment - do you know different?
Is there a theme that has developed across the 3 URC finals the Bulls have lost?
Good Q Mitch. Anyone know the answer from the inside?