Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

All reports suggest JGP is getting a central contract at the end of this season, right? So that hardly seems to be like a something that would trigger a review. (There are plenty of examples over the years of provincially-contracted guys getting selected ahead of centrally-contracted guys; this often comes up when people incorrectly claim CC players have to start / be selected).

I'd suggest the biggest imbalance in CC's, by an order of magnitude, since their inception is far higher up the agenda.

(An aside, but I'm interested if you have data on which players were centrally contracted over the years?)

The existing high performance director has been in charge for ten years, the central contract system has been in place for more than 20 years. Bringing in a new director would seem to be a logical point to do a review.

I don't think it's an admission of failure of the system at all.

And this imbalance coincides with the most successful period in the national team's history, and success of the national team is absolutely paramount.

I'm not sure the IRFU is going to see it quite the same way you do.

Which may be the case, and they may keep the status quo which is currently compounding Leinster's natural advantage.

Here's the thing; do you think this will impact fans (and therefore the IRFU) in the long run? I think it's definitely an issue, and one the IRFU need to (and will) consider.

So if we end up with a fairer re-distribution of CCs between the provinces, would the end result be that some of Leinster's fringe players would be forced to go abroad? If so, I think that would be a good thing for Ireland. Imagine if the likes of Frawley, Byrne, Larmour were playing regularly for Eng/French teams for the past few years. They'd probably be much better players now and would give Ireland more options.

And equally, fans of others clubs are entitled to ask questions when they see an imbalance of central contracts on a scale we've never seen before.

We're clearly not going to agree, FTD, so I suggest we leave it at that.

(Fwiw, I still am interested if you have data on CC players over the years).

Can we please stop discussing the Jordie Barrett transfer in here. It is a smart economic and strategic investment that Leinster have made. It is not unprecedented, Leinster have signed All Black Brad Thorn before on a 6 month contract. There should be no further discussion.

Mod: No back-seat modding.

It is embarrassing that even some mods on this site are getting so salty at Leinster’s success and jealous of competent executive management

Sorry, you're arguing that Jean Kleyn should have had a central contract?

I'm sorry but this is mental. Absolutely mental

Where do you direct those questions though?

Since 2010 which is when Munsters decline began after Rabo/HC wins, in relation to the national team, they have produced TWO forwards of note (POM and Donnacha Ryan) and a few who were bit part players at most (Kilcoyne, Ryan, Scannell) in the that time

Where does the question about that get directed when the solution by Munster was generally found in South Africa