Leinster Team Talk Thread (Love you Furlong time)

Munster had basically the full Irish 1-10 for years.

It was absolutely as lopsided and then they were bringing in some of the best players in the world like Cullen, Howlett, de Villiers etc to supplement them.

Even if there were 20 centrals, given that Munster players made up around 15 of any given 22 then they would have gotten the vast majority of those contracts.

The greater the number of central contracts, the lower the remaining % of total expenditure the IRFU had to share around the provinces. Those with fewer central contracts were impacted to an even greater extent than they are now.

I dont believe it was a coincidence that a bunch of Leinster developed players went and plied their trade in the UK during that period.

Frawley would be an obvious counter-point to this, no?

So no to the sources?

Google searches suggest there was 15 in 2013 and as many as 25 in the mid noughties split evenly-ish between Ulster, munster and Leinster (munster had 2 or 3 more than Leinster and Ulster) which, when you look at the squad v England in 2007 would make sense.

I have to defend Charlie Ngati here, he was very good when he came on. Was punching holes that Leinster didn't punch for the 20 odd minutes after half time where we'd no ideas before he came on.

Finally watching the match!!

Q: How many munster players does it take to change a light bulb?

A: More imports

You see whatever the question is regarding munster players, the answer is always more imports.

I'm not doubting that Leinster make money. I'm just wondering whether signings like this are the reason or the reward.

There's not really an argument to be made here. Leinster sold 51,000 tickets in the Aviva in five days, a week after getting 40,000 in the gate. That's a lot of ticket money and getting to the semi-finals means a) lots more tickets and b) a fair chunk of EPCR prize money.

And the highest profile NIQ in the 23 was Michael Alaalatoa.

So, "signings like this" aren't the reason Leinster bring in lots of money. Not remotely.

The only way Irish provinces can ever compete is through home-grown talent and the occasional project or granny-rule player. Leinster have hit an incredible run of talent production and very savvy (but pretty low-budget) acquisitions, there's nothing else to it.

I appreciate that this has hit a lot of nerves but there isn't a pattern here. I'm struggling to remember the last really big name we signed. Scott Fardy in 2017 is about the best I can come up with, not exactly a global superstar, unless I'm missing someone major? So we don't really get rewarded too often either.

Not saying Ngatai played poorly.

However, out of the balance of probabilities given their history Barrett would have likely played even better.

So should Leinster not develop players? Should they allow the other provinces 1st dibs at these players? Can the union force these players to go elsewhere? Would this help Leinster? Do any of these lads want to play elsewhere? There's really no fix. Ulster have not developed an Ulster born forward since Henderson. Things look better now though. I understand the frustration and maybe the central contract system is outdated?

As I said before, I understand the disgruntlement of Ulster fans but that is a rant that has rewritten history to suit the narrative you feel is right. It is true Ulster have never gotten the same love from the IRFU but the province can barely go a season without making a terrible hire or signing that knocks you back.

While Leinster spent years building up their success from being a laughing stock, Munster completely squandered their 'luck' and their significant IRFU subsidies during that period. I agree, Irish sides aren't David - the whole Munster narrative is false that they were a 'David' when in the 00s they had the Irish 1-10, in an era where that is where the game was mostly won, and they supplemented it with signing some of the best players in the world in their backs. They had an enormous fanbase and corporate sponsorship and rather than moving with professionalism and investing in their system to ensure the continued growth, the Munster leadership naval gazed and let it all slip away. A clear example is sticking with split training facilities for years for internal political reasons when it was clear it was a ridiculous way for a professional team to develop their players, especially their young ones. There is absolutely no surprise that Munster are now producing far higher quality of young players having finally moved into professionalism.

If you told a Leinster fan in the early '00s that we'd be in this spot 20 years later they'd have laughed you out the door. Leinster were openly mocked (Ladyboys), playing in front of 3 men and their dog, got changed in portacabins, were unable to keep their players from leaving to go to the UK to play, and even a sizeable proportion of their own province fanbase supported another one (Lunsters). Leinster do have some natural advantages over the other provinces, however your version of history completely belittles the fantastic work Leinster have done over the last 20 years, the hard work and smart decisions while other provinces were shooting themselves in the foot over and over again.

The bitterness of opposing fans shows exactly how far we've come. We haven't won a trophy in years and there's more focus on how to drag Leinster down than looking at the faults of their own province and the steps they can take to improve.