Provinces are hamstrung by the IRFU

On Rugby:What has happened to the Irish provinces? Compared to last season, the performances of all four of them have dipped. The "declines", such as they are, have varied and are relative, yet each of the quartet has come up short of their own efforts of 2005-06 in both Europe and in the Magners Celtic League.

The Leinster coaching ticket of Michael Cheika, David Knox and Mike Brewer have come in for the most scrutiny and the most criticism. Yet if, say, Leinster were to take the somewhat reactionary and drastic step of removing them, and thereby appointing the province's fifth coach in seven years, then by the same logic Ulster, Munster and Connacht might just as well follow suit and sack Mark McCall, Declan Kidney and Michael Bradley.

Clearly, that would be an over-the-top reaction, and in part, the focus on Leinster not only goes with the terrain of being located in the capital city (with all the Dublin-based media attention that entails) but also because Leinster for the second year running kept Irish interest alive in the Celtic League until the final weekend. Had their challenge slipped away earlier, a la Ulster, or hardly been mounted at all, a la Munster, they might have avoided some of the wrath that accompanied their dreadful, anti-climactic finale in Cardiff last Friday.

Ulster have fallen away rather alarmingly since the much-heralded first-half dissection of a below-strength and, at the time, out-of-sorts Toulouse to the point where not only did their Heineken European Cup pool challenge peter out for the seventh season in a row, but a run of four defeats in their final six games put paid to their defence of the Celtic League.

This was also conducted to the backdrop of rifts within the dressingroom as well as dissension from some of the Ravenhill crowd. Heretofore, part of Ulster's strength has been their unity of purpose, which to some degree was even fostered by a feeling they were not fairly represented in the Irish squad. But now that they have greater representation in the Irish squad, perhaps Ulster are being afflicted with some of the difficulties which have faced Munster and Leinster.

There have even been tales of rows and disharmony in the Munster camp, although bust-ups happen in the best of dressingrooms. In some respects, it's a sign of health, and to Munster's credit they managed to rebound from the acute disappointment of losing their unbeaten Thomond Park record in Europe and their hold on the European Cup to Llanelli in the quarter-finals by winning their last four matches in the Celtic League when long since out of contention. It helped three of those games were at home, and that Llanelli sent over a shadow team to Musgrave Park.

The Irish system excessively prioritises Team Ireland, and the last few months must have demoralised and deflated supporters of all four provinces. Viewed in the context of Ulster's new-found difficulties, it's clear the three leading provinces have suffered from "internationalitis" this year more than any other, what with the hangover from the Grand Slam near miss and the onset of the World Cup. Arguably the most pampered professionals in the Northern Hemisphere, not all the Irish frontliners give the impression the Celtic League ranks that highly in their list of priorities.

Then again, thinking of the media and public, they wouldn't be alone.

Nevertheless, Cheika's post-match comment that Leinster suffered for their run-in of three matches out of four on the road rings a little hollow. Their leading Welsh rivals have had a much tougher run-in due to their backlog of matches caused by competing in an additional competition, the Anglo-Welsh Cup.

Although Cheika might also argue his consistency of selection was a contributory factor in Leinster sustaining their league challenge longer than any other Irish team, if they did finish fatigued it must partly be of his making in rarely rotating his squad. This is particularly dangerous territory given Leinster's "them-and-us history", and Cheika has his blind spots, the example of Owen Finegan being a case in point.

Certainly, Lynn Jones managed his Ospreys' squad more deftly (albeit with greater resources and the benefits of a council-built 20,000 all-seater stadium) and this is something Cheika and his fellow coaches will have to address next season, and perhaps also last summer's heavy pre-season training.

The final table shows that but for several contentious decisions away to the Ospreys, Leinster would be league champions. Even so, Cheika and co will also have to look at their own discipline and altercations with officials - be they referees, touch judges or in Cheika's case his own chief executive - and whether this has contributed to Leinster's frayed mentality on the pitch and the highest number of yellow cards in the league. Leinster haven't had a famed tight five in some time, but more alarming was the distinct impression that they have suddenly begun to look badly coached.

Their maul and scrum, no longer under the eye of the retiring Roly Meates, buckled again on Friday but, allowing for the loss of Brian O'Driscoll and a jaded-looking Felipe Contepomi appearing to have too much on his plate, what has happened to their backline? A unit that looked capable of scoring every time they touched the ball now looks flat and toothless, relying almost utterly on the individualism of Gordon D'Arcy, while persisting with Shane Horgan in midfield has simply failed.

Furthermore, judging by their crunch matches away to Wasps and Cardiff, there is something seriously wrong with the squad's spirit. Performances like the European Cup quarter-final and last Friday just shouldn't happen.

Against all of that, the memory of some of their rugby last season under Cheika and earlier this season hasn't gone away. Help is also at hand in the form of a move to a redeveloped, 18,000-capacity RDS as well as the arrival of 22-year-old Puma "bull" Juan Gomez via Stade Francais, not to mention the return of Leo Cullen and Shane Jennings with their winning Leicester mentality.

It's also worth noting that Leinster, no less than Munster, more so than Connacht, but seemingly not to the extent of Ulster, are hamstrung by the control strings of the IRFU and particularly the Players Advisory Group which sanctions, or blocks, intended transfer targets. Furthermore, in terms of stadia, infrastructure and budgets, the Irish provinces have now been overtaken by some of the Welsh entities as well as English and French clubs, to be followed by self-regulated Edinburgh?

They are not competing on an equal footing with those rivals. And now that the Borders have been removed, Connacht - drip fed and kept in their box so as they can't threaten the hegemony of the other three - aren't competing on an equal footing with anybody.