Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

Oh ya 100% Ahern makes the Leinster academy he just gets a lot less senior exposure once he graduates. I honestly don't think Edwin would have made Leinster, he was way off the pace skills wise pre academy its really a testament to him how far he has come in the last two years. I wonder if Munster upping the requirements to make the academy since covid, as has been mentioned many times, has had the effect of hurting the next potential Edogbo, who clearly benefited from being in the academy environment every week. All of the Munster guys who missed the academy in Autumn 22 went backwards with their respective Ireland age grades over the course of last season; Dan Sheehan, Jason Sheehan, Oji, Sean Edogbo and Costello. It will be interesting to see how the sub academy guys fare this season across the Ireland youth teams.

Australia definitely need to lift their game otherwise it could be a humiliation for them. Wales, probably the weakest of the Home Nations, just put 40 points on them. You'd imagine they will improve and will obviously have home advantage, but at the moment it could be as uncompetitive as the 2005 series.

Andrew Osborne strikes ma as a player who is athletic but not a great rugby player at the moment. Of course, that can change. At Munster, Okeke is probably seen for his physical attributes. He looks a powerful lad. In saying that, Okeke came in with Kendellen, who is brilliant and likely to get even better. For me, it's difficult to see Okeke getting past Quinn and Kendellen. Who knows what will happen.

Makes zero sense to me. Oz are lost at sea.

Yeah, I totally agree. Leinster enjoy an unparalleled junior academy system which no club could ever create, one that is highly funded and while the players are amateur the system they are in is professional for all intents and purposes. (we're talking about 15 odd schools with hundreds of players each) All of the coaches are paid, most are teachers but the schedules they enjoy incorporates the rugby calendar. They also enjoy the support of the Leinster system. Very difficult for club players to get to the level of schools players by the time they are 17 or 18 so they are at a massive disadvantage in Leinster, and without a doubt many are lost entirely to professionalism as a result.

I was lucky enough to spend time with David Humphreys when he was DOR at Gloucester. He was a really interesting and thoughtful guy and clearly very bright. He even spoke about the Leinster schools "production line" said that no club in the world had access to the quantity of talent Leinster have. I think he is a great appointment. Avoids any accusations of Leinster bias most obvious Irish candidates would get.

As far as distributing players across provinces I don't think too many Leinster fans would have a problem with losing some players at two and three in their depth chart if it meant they were also allowed to bring in say two elite NIQs. I could be mistaken but didn't the 3 Barrett brothers play for different NZ franchises? It doesn't seem to have done the ABs much harm.

Oh, well we'll see.

I think there are other factors at play beyond the touchline of the pitch that have hampered Okeke's development since that Wasps game

Good post. You could be onto something with a national unitary academy development program.

This is true, and Munster are now starting to do the same. Ulster have done so for a while - Doak, Sheridan, Postlethwaite, various back-rowers that subsequently evaporated etc. Ulster are also very keen users of the year-long development contract.

I don't believe some sort of actual single national academy per se would be beneficial - a "programme" across all four academies, perhaps.

I would say this, though. Young fellas on the cusp of breaking through to pro rugby are going to have to get used to dealing with their own slumps in form, injuries, bad ref calls in crucial decisions, tough losses etc. The idea that it's too much to ask they go to another province for the good of the sport in Ireland is treating them with kid gloves a bit too much.

Whether you care to admit it or not if you have no association with a country and then move to Dublin where you're surrounded by people with Leinster-centric views, with your son going to school and having friends who only support Leinster to a point where he supports Leinster too then it's naturally going to have an influence. Those decisions involve a team on your doorstep that your neighbours support, your son supports, local radio gives extra glowing coverage towards, you see their flags for on your way to work every day versus three other teams that you have absolutely no connection with whatsoever. Of course it's a factor.

I think Humphries will have a very different and very welcome perspective on matters having both seen the system from an Ulster perspective and as an outsider over in England. He's seen his province labelled as a "basket case" in the Dublin media before, he's watched the career of a player as talented as Darren Cave come and go with just 11 caps and looked on perplexed as an Ulster legend and rugby ambassador Ruan Pienaar was denied an extension in Ulster while Nacewa with a similar status in Leinster was allowed return. All to justify the development of Cooney who seemingly wasn't on the international radar for Schmidt anyway.

There's much to improve and those associated with Ulster understand that more than anyone on the island.