Munster Team Talk Thread - Beirne After Reading

No thats gone now.

https://www.independent.ie/sport/rugby/six-nations/we-have-to-ensure-the-provinces-close-the-gap-on-leinster-david-humphreys-outlines-strategy-to-fix-irish-rugbys-imbalance/a449631605.html

Last summer, Humphreys floated a ban on overseas props signing for the provinces but he’s shifted his position in the months since, signing off on Dian Bleuler’s short-term move to Munster, and it appears he will sanction an extension to Rabah Slimani’s Leinster stay. Indeed, it appears likely that Slimani and RG Snyman are both in negotiations about prolonging their stays, although it is understood there are restrictions on Leinster playing them ahead of Ireland players. “Those are the conversations you’d have,” he said of signing off on the overseas pair. “You can see the impact that they’ve had, seeing the fact that from a development point of view, you certainly – with the number of players who have played in the national squad, the number of nationally contracted players, they have not been in any way a brake on player development, or young player development. “So I think they have added a huge amount to Leinster this year and those conversations with Leinster and the other provinces around who they are recruiting are ongoing. There has to be a flexibility. “It [the proposed ban] started a conversation, we all recognised that front-row succession was something that Andy Farrell was very concerned about. “Even in the course of the last six months, with someone like Thomas Clarkson coming through, some of the real concerns have eased. “But we’re still very conscious that developing front-row forwards is a huge priority for us. “It’s why Seamus Toomey has been appointed as the scrum development coach to do a lot of that work further down at 16-18 level and underage teams from a technical point of view.

The nature of high performance, yes of course you’re going to set some restrictions and guidelines to give people some parameters in which to work. But as we showed in November, when there’s pressure in a particular province, then Dian Bleuler was allowed to be signed because, from a performance point of view, we had to be flexible and adaptable. That’s very much how I see it.“We are very much committed to developing our own front-row forwards, but as the system evolves and players develop, there’s definitely ongoing conversations.”

Flexibility also extends to the number of overseas signings the provinces can make.“I think if you look back 10 years ago, it was four foreign players and one project player and that was set in stone with no negotiation around that,” Humphreys said.“The provinces have moved a little bit. Some of that is financial pressure they’re under and from an IRFU point of view it’s about making sure that the NIQ players who come in are adding real value in terms of what they can do on the pitch and also the influence and impact they can have on some of the younger players coming through.“At this stage, there’s no set restrictions on who they can and can’t sign.