Irish Rugby peaked in 2023 and is now in steady decline. A Very Barron decade ahead

It's the steep decline in the quality of coaching that's worrying most of all I think, a big part of what's given us an edge. The younger players will come - there is plenty of talent - but into what kind of environment?

The O'Connell lineout is still a liability and our attacking game - once the envy of the world - has disappeared. I hope you're right and Farrell refreshes the coaching because we need something better during the rebuild.

I would rank Sheehan as our best or second best player at the moment with JG-P. Aki is down a bit in my rankings and declining further, still spectacular with the ball in no space but not the guy you’d want to see chasing a winger.

I think some sort of "draft light" system could be considered. With a dual goal to maintain identity and spread talent. Take an example of Sheahan and Kelleher at Leinster. In this case two best hookers are both local. Leinster should get first option on the number 1 "draft" option coming from the province, eg. Gus McCarthy, however it would be a choice, if you wish to keep the two front liners you pass on the draft option. This would prevent a log jam of talent in one setup. Or a system where you get first call on a set number of academy prospects from your own province every year, say 3-5, but after that its an open draft. This ensures you keep the top local talent.

Its hard to disagree with the narritive here and something I think we've all observed before seeing it called out in this vid. Basically Ireland has turned into Leinster (with the exception of a few players from Munster / Connacht) playing to a different play book for the international games.

Whats the fix here? Is it just a case of pump more money into the other provinces youth / academy set ups to catch up with the Leinster system?

On that topic, why is the U20's captain Éanna McCarthy - a very obvious Corkman (from Ballinhasssig I think) - playing for Connacht?

agreed on spread. lets get our top players playing as often as we can

Happens all the time. In many areas there will be similar courses so they can move. Doing courses part time etc look at henshaw started in nuig moving over to ucd when he moved to leinster doing ii all pretty much part time

It's also a cartel. The NFL would never be legal in the EU

Here's my take on where we are.

A very well run business, prudently managed and well structured for the demands of the professional game. Income stream from the top down needs us to have at least a chance against all nations to keep the bums on the seats for the big income internationals.

We have around 180 professional players at anyone time of which maybe 50-70 are the right age and general ability to play international rugby. Allowing for injury we probably select 36 man squads from 50 players.

Academies and under 20's are the lifeblood that we require to keep this going. Every ounce of potential talent has to reach the academies.

Leinster: A little like Ireland, well managed and being kept in the conversation about winning each year. Success is consistent top 4 in all competitions. Winning something regularly may actually hamper the financial performance. Good academy pipeline based on the schools and population should keep them operating at the higher levels while careful use of higher gates income and sponsorship to select key external talents to keep the brand on track will need to continue.

Munster: History and population buy in keep Munster in every conversation. They are consistently struggling to reinvent themselves in a longer term perspective. Ethos, playing style, coaching etc. Many false dawns, hope this one is it. Lack consistent numbers to keep the academies stocked but have yet to recognize the flaw of admitting the best Munster youth over the best available Irish youth. The change in mindset needs to be Ireland first supported by a strong and powerful Munster.

Ulster: A little like Munster in that the historical identity is there to be built on but to find the model to compete is not easy. They have more recently recognized what Munster do not. Young Irish talent into the academy is the priority where they were born is secondary. I believe that this is now started and coupled with their strong identity they are poised to compete in coming years despite the current lack of international stars. Careful selection of NIQ'S is required to complete the reshaping of the Province. Ireland needs Ulster.

Connacht: The runt of the litter but ironically the weakness at Connacht is the strength. Lack of population and playing numbers mean that Connacht are ahead of the game in academy terms as they have always needed to dress in the other provinces hand-me downs. Filling their academy with guys who can be tempted away from the bright lights of Leinster and Munster or those just below the standard is the way to go for Irish rugby to broaden the playing pool and it also works for Connacht.

Anytime Ireland win against England, South Africa, France or New Zealand ( for different reasons) we should be celebrating like like David after beating Goliath and all his brothers. We are punching consistently. Australia, Wales, Scotland, Argentina these are the comparable nations. Unfortunately our golden generation missed their shot at the last World Cup and who knows when we will next have that chance. Perhaps Farrells success is in fact failure to achieve with the best squad ever produced from this island. Key question for me is did we over achieve due to quality coaching or under achieve with the best group we ever had. As time goes by I'm moving towards the latter.

The job is always to get the next crop to peak because we are always in decline as our very very limited professional stock of players age out. No province will be or remain successful if Ireland isn't, province first always but only after country.

Ireland Abu & Connacht Abu but Leinster, Munster and Ulster academies Abu.

The other aspect of the NFL draft is they are only competing with themselves. If the Irish provinces only played each other a draft system would make more sense as it would equalise the provinces. But when we compete against other nations you would effectively be weakening Leinster and we would have 4 less competitive provinces. Which is better?

What support does an academy guy get from his AIL club? Genuine question, I presume it is a pittance and completely discretionary?

The support from the province they're with is exactly the issue here - they can't afford it.

Nobody is saying someone has to give up a college place. They simply transfer to a similar course in the new city

That is a gross oversimplification. It might be valid for someone doing business or arts, but what if a player is studying a specialised course in UCC and is now told he has to go to Connacht but NUIG doesn't offer it?

Robbie Henshaw was on a central contact when he moved to Leinster btw, he didn't need to worry too much about Plan B.

What you really want at 20's is one of the best 5 players or a flawed but talented player who could round out his skillset and be elite. Munster have had an abundance of both since 2019 with multiple top 5 players:

2025: Foy, Smyth

2024: O'Connell, Gleeson

2023: Quinn, Gleeson

2022: O'Sullivan, Campbell

2021: Kendellan

2020: Crowley, Ahern

2019: Hodnett, Casey, Wycherly

And flawed but talented prospects like O'Leary Kareem, Sean Edogbo, O'Connor, McSweeney Okeke, Philips and French.

What's happened is that the prospects have really struggled to make the jump to international level. If you look at minutes played, Munster are vastly more conservative than Leinster and Ulster when it comes to giving players under 23 years of age minutes. This season Jack O'Donoghue has double the minutes of Gleeson, Quinn and Edogbo combined. Edogbo, who started for emerging Ireland this year, has zero competitive minutes this season, the only player on the tour with this distinction. That is absurdly conservative.

I assume you mean struggle to jump to provincial level from your list?

Ireland has a habit of getting worse as a tournament progresses. Limping over the line against England 2 years ago, losing against England and limping home against Scotland last year, Destroyed by France and awful away to Italy this year. Same story at World Cups. By the time the QF comes we're a spent force.

Questions must be asked about squad fitness and until the age issue is addressed it's difficult to see how this trend ends. We benefit from the Leinster continuity and familiarity early in tournaments but as the other teams get more and more time together that advantage disappears.

While I appreciate there is a big gap in experience, the likes of Gavin, Forde, Osbourne, Devine, Odogbo plus the younger internationals like Sheahan, Doris, McCarthy, Keenan and Hansen give me much hope for the future. The question for me is when does Farrell start to accelerate this process.