going back to the OP, there is a clear pecking order, with two levels: the international team, and then everything else.. The international side pays the bills - none of the provinces makes money, they all receive subventions from D4. So to the extent there is a further pecking order among the provinces, it will come down to bang for buck - who contributes most to the success of teh Irish team, and at what cost? Leinster will be the teacher's pet, because they produce loads of good players, yes they're expensive but they bring in decent commercial revenues as well as winning things, which is good for prestige, but also for the coffers.Dave wrote:The FIRFU are a witless and spineless shower who simply do not care what happens to Ulster. They love the colour of money much more than the health of "four" proud provinces. There is a clear pecking order and we are at the bottom. Things are not getting better anytime soon.
Below that it's not clear cut - Munster have a good current crop of Irish internationals, but have serially over-committed financially over the last 15 years, bleed red ink, can't service their debts, and in the last couple of years don't seem to have been producing as many players at age grade.
And we have been a shambles in terms of management, have provided a couple of players for the Irish team, run a tighter ship financially - but, and here I completely agree with the IRFU, we have completely failed at creating a sustainable "development pathway" for the professional game,and become ever more reliant on imports to paper over the cracks. Going out and signing a Coetzee or Piutau is a nice cocaine hit - compared with the grind of spending 4-5 years developing young players, but the only way we will be competitive again is if we start majoring on the latter rather than the former..
No, we're never going to have a Leinster-style conveyor belt, but few clubs in Europe, never mind Ireland, will - but we have done a shocking job. If you look at our squad, what graduates from the academy in the last 5 seasons - so roughly aged 22-27 - have we developed as genuine international options? I have Henderson in the pack, and Stockdale, Gilroy, Marshall and McCloskey in the backs. That is a very poor return. (I count 15 in the Leinster squad...)
So I can understand the IRFU's frustration, and why they forced the issue over Pienaar - even if it might have been less damaging to do so over a different player.
We need to:
1) get the academy working - we will know it is when Ulster A is essentially an academy XV and is competitive in the Celtic League, when we see players consistently breaking through to the senior side, and when rates of players dropping out fall back substantially. This is the most important thing.
Then, supplementally:
2) continue to box smart with IQ recruitment - I have absolutely no problem with us or any other Irish province being proactive in snapping up foreign IQs. The Exiles have been doing a cracking job recently, and we should absolutely make it work for us - the important thing is that we filter properly, and stop signing any joker who happens to have an Irish grannie (I'll not name names)
3) continue to box smart when hiring from other provinces - again I have no problem with intra-provincial transfers, and I think we'll be seeing more of them. All squads will naturally have areas of relative strength and weakness, so it stands to reason that across the 4, some good players will be blocked, while some less good players will be racking up game time.