Where do Irish professional rugby players come from?

I agree with you on the camps. there is nowhere near enough official camps.

Munster only run 23 camps this summer though there will be another 20 or 30 camps if not more ran by clubs themselves.

Some clubs who have a munster summer camp wll also run their own as well.

Schools are a good environment but there can be issues with progression to adult rugby and with the way rugby is structured there is a huge drop off which the schools/clubs relationship doesnt help.

In hurling yes schoools play a huge role but the club game is as important/more important for many of the players.

"if Blackrock were forced in to fielding a women’s team"

That would require a substantial amount of gender reassignment surgery. Possibly not popular with the chosen victims, And as for the rest, teenage boys want to introduce teenage girls to something different entirely, poosibly behind the bike sheds.

I completely agree with you that some of the reason why the rugby schools produce outstanding players is tradition in the same way why Kilkenny produce outstanding Hurlers. It is remarkable that such a small percentage of people can produce so many professional standard players.

However, the quality of the coaching is a direct function of the school being private. They are paying to get professional coaches, professional S&C, professional physio, you name it... A public school just doesn't have those resources and you are relying on teachers doing it for free - which is just impossible in the modern world. Rugby coaching takes up more time than any other sport. The prep time for good sessions is higher and there are so many technical aspects that is why you need specialist coaching for special parts of the game.

Whether we like it or not, the private schools want strong rugby teams as it helps their reputation as being respected in upper middle class echelons. If any of the big ones, in the interest of a rounded education were to say we're going to split our sports budget between Football, Basketball and GAA. So it's not just Rugby, what do you think would happen?

Rugby is the perfect sport suited to rich people wanting to be better than non - rich people.

The same would never work with Football. It really doesn't matter how amazing coaches you have, you either have that touch or you don't. On the other hand, Rugby, is so tactical and so many of skills can greatly develop with good coaching, you can really engineer great teams once people are reasonably athletic and are prepared to put the time in.

That's one reason why the private schools take it as their chosen sport because it is so hard for a working class or public school to compete with them and make all their fee's look stupid. If they spent the same amount on Football, who know's probably St. Kevins would still beat them, or a bunch of Hurlers from Kilkenny. Rugby it's just impossible to compete.

But do those schools want it or are interested. the girls rugby clubs/schools in Dublin are not those schools and if you want partnerships to be built up then it could as easily and should really be boys schools

The private schools definitely put out the most pro ready players, especially st michaels and blackrock. Actually, i’d say specifically those two schools.

There have recently been a number of guys from those schools who are pro ready AND elite players. I’m not absolutely sure the latter will necessarily be the status quo. Or at least at this percentage.

The highest upside rugby players should be just the best athletes with size and 2 private schools in dublin shouldn't have a monopoly on that.

It’s up to the other three provinces to bridge that readiness gap somehow and expand the net as wide as possible. I think we are seeing it at munster and connacht at least. Both have been producing athletic players from varied backgrounds recently. Ulster imo relies too much on a pretty small footprint, but its a much tougher ask in ulster to access athletes playing GAA for example.

The schools are now and will for foreseeable future put out most pro ready. Michaels may for short term but who knows into long term considering how short a time they have been producing international level players etc..

The other provinces are doing things to help bridge the gap but it will take considerable time. Leinster are also carrying out actions to close gap of those not in the top rugby schools with those who are.

Ad mentioned elsewhere. Leinster are planning to build multiple centres of excellence like the ken wall in donnybrook

Munster have the Musgrave Park centre, are building one in fethard for south tipp/waterford. are building one in rosbrien limerick for north munster (north tipp/clare'/limerick)

Ulster need to be doing similar to that but what can they do to get more schools/clubs playing in the west of the province?

Nonsense.

Yea, for sure. I just think that people see the unending conveyer belt of absolute world class players coming out of two schools is some kind of inevitability. Its not really imo. It could be a golden generation, or it could just be 50% of what it is now.

Leinster have been making big strides (especially at clubs like Naas) which is good for everyone really. They can only take 8 guys a year, and you would think ulster and munster ideally would take one guy per year from leinster, with connacht taking 2/3. Whatever Munster are doing in west cork is interesting as well. In general, Munster are signing athletes right now which bodes well for them.

I don’t know what Ulster can do. Derry City is the second biggest city in Ulster and traditionally a soccer stronghold. Ulster/the IRFU could stand to spend the money to try to build something long term there imo, including the hinterland in donegal/county derry.

edit: 8 guys a year is 24 total but with attrition and early promotions, i think you could do that and always have 20.

Do Leinster schools enter international competitions? We hear constantly about the amazing conveyor belt that is the envy of the rugby world, and they are churning out pro players in recent years - I'm just wondering have these schools pitted themselves against schools from other countries - or is that not a thing?