Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

we were absolutely not happy about alot of that though

Which precisely?

the Dublin media

None of the OTB guys in that piece are from Dublin. Literally not one.

This says more about the people in the bar than anything else.

I know this will come across as holier than thou but I was going to the Leinster Bath game, and was genuinely struck by the level of cheers from Leinster fans watching Munster start to come back against Northampton (in both Smyth’s on Haddington rd and Ryan’s Beggars Bush). That was my first game in Ireland after living abroad the past few years where my only experience of Irish rugby fans was online. The in person experience was a pleasant surprise, but mostly a shock because I really didn’t expect it.

That was provincial rugby, never mind the National side. Anyone who can’t support Irish lads representing their country just because they don’t come from x or y, needs to take a good long look at themselves.

I don't want this to come across as provincial sniping but I think the bandwagon fans thing is a fair point, in that Munster's support swelled (obviously) with the fairytale team of the 2000s. Lots of non or casual rugby fans loved the image painted of ther rural underdog team sticking it to everyone, in particular how they always beat Leinster in big games. It was a big 2 fingers to 'the big smoke'. many to be fair have stuck around as Munster fans but it leads to the (again very minimal) attitude where there's a bitterness.

Hey ho high fives his rugby bros, pounds his chest and shouts "HUNNH!" in the true non-nonsense Alpha male rugby stylee

Fair enough, then the IFRU should really be targeting the grammar schools and funding the playing of rugby in them. Especially those of a Catholic ethos to spread the game into a non-traditional cohort.

I apologise for my ignorance and hope no offence was caused.

Myself and the aul man were surrounded by friends and family who supported Munster in the 00’s, we all went to the Munster games when they got to semis and finals together and it was great fun.
That all changed in ‘09.
The bitterness and abuse that was hurled at us by Munster fans in Edinburgh at the final was shocking, not just from a section of Munster fans but from every one of them outside my friends and family.
It left a real nasty taste in my mouth and it has really tainted my views on Munster supporters.
Now I don’t for a second believe that all Munster fans are the same and I really love to see the team win, same for Ulster and Connacht. But there is a certain cohort of Munster fans who can go eat a big bag of d1cks, I suspect the same cohort are the ones who won’t follow Ireland because of the number of Leinster players.

These Munster fans are disappointed with how things are right now but they fully believe that Munster will be back on top in a few years.

I think part of the issue is that a significant number of Ulster and Munster fans don't believe their province will be back on top in a few years. Like, if this was a temporary blip of a few generational Leinster players emerging at the same time, you could say it'll be grand in a year or two. I think the concern is that the problem is going to either persist or even get worse in the next few years.

There's a significant group of players over 30 in this current Ireland team; Healy, Furlong, Bealham, Beirne, POM, VDF, Conan, JGP, Murray, Lowe, Aki, Henshaw will all be gone before or very shortly after the next RWC. We have to hope that these spots get taken up by a mix of players from around the provinces. If Leinster hoover up the majority of these jerseys, these discussions are going to run and run.

No, no - don't be silly, you're fine, I didn't mean to sound defensive or antagonistic.

I completely agree about the schools - there have been various efforts to raise the popularity of the sport in Catholic grammar schools, and it has improved a bit, but it's mostly piecemeal, grassroots stuff between local clubs and schools and the like. So many talented young Ulstermen (and -women) who it would be brilliant to bring into the sport. You'd think it would be relatively straightforward, given it's an all-Ireland sport but it ain't, unfortunately.

Genuine question - why not?