Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

To be honest I think the central contract is no longer needed.

Previously the provinces lost their Ireland players for many games but that no longer applies since there aren't games during international windows.

Munster are affected by having Nash and Crowley with Ireland but it isn't recognised with central contracts. Ulster with McCloskey who doesn't start but is with all the squads. Connacht with Hansen. Leinster with Jgp.

The system is outdated and needs to be reviewed. Provinces should reap the rewards either the year their players are selected or the following year. So if Crowley plays 8 games this year then munster get 8times X amount added to their budget the next year to use how they like. Leinster get the same for all their players. They can invest in their academy or add it to wages.

Leinster would still get the most benefit and they should. They provide the most players.

But players like Hansen is a full time player for ireland for years before he's on a central contract. And connacht will have all the downside of that but no benefit.

A draft system not being feasible has hardly anything to do with provincial loyalty. It works in American football because the money offered to a player who gets drafted is far too good to turn down. It's millions of dollars for multi-year contracts. Of course anyone's going to jump at that. Talking about a draft when academy players get paid 8000 euros a year (might be an out of date figure) is pie in the sky stuff.

Yes. It would more or less end up the same. I don't have a issue with leinster getting funded more. They are the most successful province and provide the most players to Ireland.

But it helps a situation like Nash, who started the games he was fit for but will never have a central contract. Or the years that jgp was a clear starter but paid by leinster and all the rest periods that went with that.

I would think Cian Prendergast would be a good candidate. But he's on a team that is underperformed. Casey doesn't deserve it yet. Crowley will get a CC. In Munster, the best prospects at the moment would be Ahern, only if he breaks into the Irish squad. Ulster have none. Maybe McAnn down the road and fingers crossed, Wilson. I'd put money on Wilson to be the starting th for Ireland in a couple of years.

You left out in that analysis that the other provinces are also reaping their underinvestment and stupid decisions over the years when it comes to their academies and player pathways.

If Munster had gotten their act together sooner and for the last 15 years were producing talented young players at the same rate as they are currently then the gap wouldn't be as wide as it is. I'd argue that if they continue at the current pace then the gap should continue to close - a statement many Munster fans would have claimed at the end of last season and I'd say many would have said this time last week.

As exampled here with an impressive efficiency, you just don't deal with a representative sample of Irish rugby fans on this site. It's important to stress this for fans of the other provinces, who may otherwise feel that such uninformed, childish spite reflects a majority opinion. In my experience, it very much does not.

I'm not. You're conflating things.

The significant imbalance I'm talking about begins next season. Leinster have been the most consistent club in Europe for the last 8 years before this scale of an imbalance.

You're literally not. Here's what you've claimed I said:

On the one hand, Leinster are at an advantage and thus more competitive because there is an imbalance in the number of CC's they have.

The issue I have is with what the imbalance of CC's will be next season.

"Will be". Not "is" currently.

Do you see the difference?

Fair enough, hadn't factored in the scenario where two central contracts would be the downfall of Irish rugby.

I really yearn for the good old days when everything was more equitable in Irish rugby. (last week).

If you can't see the irony in those words you just typed, you're lost.

You've saved yourself a lot of time.

It has been done to death with them - they have been asked again and again but have no credible solution that moves the needle.

None of the other provinces ever had a subsidy from the IRFU that allowed them to have 9 starting players they didn't have to pay for in fairness

Yeah the other provinces spent a few quid on NIQs on some of the rare occasions when they had a bit of cash in the bag, they've had to pay for all but 1 of their own players this coming season though so that makes it harder you know?

Munster did when they were winning HC in the noughties