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Gordon D’Arcy: Weakness in the system undermines Ireland’s ambitions

Disappointing seasons for Leinster, Munster, Ulster and Connacht highlighted how the Irish system needs to change

Leinster vs Toulouse Change is required if Leinster are to get their hands on the Champions Cup again. Photograph: Billy Stickland/Inpho

Gordon D'Arcy's face
Gordon D'Arcy
Wed Jun 26 2024 - 06:00

The four Irish provinces will experience a summer of discontent for a variety of reasons when reflecting on the “club” season. There can be no wallowing in the disappointment, and let’s not sugarcoat it, whether you were a Leinster, Munster, Ulster or Connacht supporter, there wasn’t much to cheer about when the dust settled.

There will have been a debrief of sorts before the provincial players not required for international duty headed off on their summer holidays, initially looking to decompress and then, when the shadow of preseason looms into view, approaching the new campaign with a resolution to be, and do, better.

That’s the macro picture. The micro one revolves around coaches and players coming together to find a way to climb, rather than slide, when embracing the new campaigns in European competition and the United Rugby Championship.

An Emerging Ireland tour to South Africa in September/October will offer a selection of the recent Under-20 Grand Slam-winning squads a chance to work with the senior Ireland coaching group, minus Andy Farrell. Their incentive is to make the same sort of impression that Calvin Nash, Jack Crowley, Jamie Osborne, Sam Prendergast and Cormac Izuchukwu did on the 2022 tour.

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That’s for the months ahead. As for the days, well, all roads lead to South Africa. I find it a little disconcerting and disturbing that northern hemisphere countries have seen the summer Test window drift into July.

The hope is that the global fixture calendar will be harmonised with the welfare of the players foremost in minds, but the cynic in me feels that evolution is distant and that it is just the knock-on effect of parochial decision-making in recent years.

It’s a little over a year ago that the players set off on the road to the World Cup, a journey that promised and gave so much on the highways and byways of France only to end in the familiar territory of a gut-wrenching quarter-final defeat. It wasn’t the same as previous tournament setbacks but that didn’t make the New Zealand defeat easier to absorb.

Munster's Alex Kendellen, Mike Haley and Conor Murray after the defeat by Glasgow Warriors. Photograph: Dan Sheridan/Inpho

The national team rebounded by winning the Six Nations championship, but for the provinces the prospect of silverware was dashed in Leinster’s Champions Cup final defeat and then URC semi-final missteps for Leo Cullen’s team and the defending champions Munster.

For me it highlighted the continued weakness in the Irish system that undermines the provincial teams and by extension the national side, when it comes to potentially negotiating a better outcome at a World Cup.

There isn’t the depth of quality in key positions at elite level and the conservative nature of selection provincially is a significant obstacle. Change is required in both instances.

The focal points rugby-wise for the next couple of weeks will be on Ireland’s two Test tussles with the Springboks, while elsewhere in South Africa, Cape Town to be precise, Willie Faloon’s side will compete in the World Rugby Under-20 Championship.

There was never going to be any serious development aspect to the senior travelling party. Farrell and his players are going to try to win a Test series in South Africa, something that an Ireland team has never achieved before. Apart from the injury to Jamison Gibson-Park and Hugo Keenan diverting to the Ireland Sevens aside, this is a fully loaded squad, the three uncapped players notwithstanding.

Leinster and Munster continue to dominate in personnel terms, but Connacht and Ulster can have little complaint, as they endured underwhelming seasons for different reasons.

Connacht head coach Pete Wilkins will look for a playing formula that will mitigate against his squad’s yo-yo performances, good some days, poor on others. The team showed flashes of what they are capable of in quality terms, but their form gradually evaporated, and they limped towards the end of the season.

Richie Murphy made a difference after taking charge of Ulster. Photograph: Ben Brady/Inpho

It seems ludicrous that they continually have to prove their worth to the powers that be, but Wilkins has to pull together all the strands to make Connacht consistently competitive, rather than fitful in performance across a season.

Dan McFarland’s long goodbye as head coach at Ulster dragged out far longer than it should have once it was established that he no longer had the full support and buy-in from the dressingroom. The demand for success up North is not always tempered by a practical appraisal of the playing resources.

They’ve had some of the best young backs in the country for a couple of years but not the tight five in the pack that could give them a platform off which to play. Richie Murphy will have benefited from being in charge for the run-in to the end of the season.

He made some bold selections, tweaked patterns of play and got a positive response from the players. The addition of a handful of his former Ireland Under-20 charges will provide an interesting sidebar to see how many, if any, can break through into the matchday 23.

When Graham Rowntree took over from Johann van Graan, he was the right voice at the right time and Munster responded exceptionally well in winning the URC in 2023. It looked like the province was on course to retain the title before Glasgow punched their exit ticket in Thomond Park. Munster will use that disappointment as a fuel source.

Tyler Bleyendaal’s arrival as the new backs coach in Leinster is timely. It’ll be instructive to see his take on the outhalf conundrum and how he will recalibrate the attack: was it the system or those that ran it that was the problem?

Jordie Barrett and RG Snyman will bring a star quality to the province but there needs to be change from within too. A lack of young players pushing through should at least make us pause and question why that is that the case; a lack of opportunity or a lack of ability? The answer to that question might point the way to a better future for Leinster in silverware terms.

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