AIL 25/26

oh 100% they should have in that axel era when they won heinken cups should have started developing the game into local areas schools community centres etc etc if not already should have being doing that by then but i dont think they fully commited to it brought a few players through not like after in zebo and peter o'mahony sure but not on a consistent basis to keep the ball rolling (in my view) they were so focused on your o'callaghans rog o'connells quinlans etc etc for years never looked outside the box at the bigger picture. Sure its widely talked about by quinlan himself a week or two after the 08 final he went back to shannon to play with them for an ail final. I think munster by in large will have competition with gaa and so on but its no different to leinster?….. look outside of dublin you can be gaurenteed your likes of kildare wicklow louth westmeath wexford and so on rugbys not the number 1 sport its gonna be the gaa. Munster i feel need to spend more time and money in their top rugby schools like pres cbc munchins rockwell and so on and clubs for that matter and develop a model that starts to bring a conveyor belt of talent few years down the line and on the side introduce the game (or reintroduce) to areas not rugby strong hold. Limerick may be strong with hurling now but its comes in swings and roundabouts (look at dublin gaa for example not as strong now to where they were 10 years ago football wise).

I looked at the lasted team shhet for example on cookies social media pages albeit it im not overly familiar with their entire player base in terms of where their originally from but gibbons smith are dublin imports up in munster on contract, gilvarry i think is sligo? paul allen being around the blocks for years with them hes definately must be limerick based, langan or langbridge are from outside limerick but id say majority or limerick based tbf or near it be it city or country side of limerick. So it can be done to be fair.

There are plenty of players not from Limerick in Limerick club teamsheets also, swings and roundabouts.

But i agree in Limerick there are too many senior/junior clubs, A schools and competition from others sports. It has resulted in a shallow pool from which to pick players, coaches and funding.

"oh 100% they should have in that axel era when they won heinken cups should have started developing the game into local areas schools community centres etc etc"

100% Munster messed up here, should have been investing and building from the ground up, identifying new schools, pushing for more A schools, supporting youths and supporting the AIL. If the AIL was the manin dveloper should Musnster have done more to support the Munster AIL clubs somehow

"look outside of dublin you can be gaurenteed your likes of kildare wicklow louth westmeath wexford and so on rugbys not the number 1 sport its gonna be the gaa"

Not to be mean I think playing intercounty hurling for Cork, Clare, Tipp, Lim, Waterf (football in kerry) is a bigger draw than playing intercounty for Wicklow or Longford. If Jamie Osborne was from Midleton there is a very good chance he would have been a hurler number 1.

"Munster i feel need to spend more time and money in their top rugby schools like pres cbc munchins rockwell"

true but a very narrow base, they should support these schools, but they should have identified more possible A schools to widen the base while the game was popular and had the money. Munster made a mess of this.

Anyway sorry for derailing the thread. I saw highlights of the Marys-Terenure game and i couldn't believe the crowd, it was like the 90s, packed out, well done to both clubs and the AIL for such a wonderful season!!

Read somewhere recenttly that there's more GAA clubs in Co.Cork than rugby clubs in the whole of Ireland, not sure what that says about GAA Vs Rugby but it does highlight the game is just not that popular.

There are also too few in Cork city especially when you consider one is a university side.

Cork have a bigger population but not a bigger rugby one. Thomond for instance are pulling from a demographic that doesn't seem to exist in Cork rugby and hardly anywhere in Irish rugby. Munsters too to a lesser extent.

UCD vs Trinity should be a cracker tomorrow. UCD definitely favourites on paper with very very strong tight 5

Trinity team named for the playoff final:

(15-9, 1-8):

Davy Colbert, Johnny O'Sullivan, Hugo Lynch, Mark Walsh, Hugh Goddard, Matty Lynch, Oscar Cawley, Karl Brennan, Jack O'Neill, Arthur O'Rahilly, Michael Walsh, Artur Smykovskiy, Kev Jackson, Conall Henchy, David Walsh.

Reps: Jack Pollard, Johannes Dreischmeier, Hunter Deane Johns, Jack Riley, Max Dunne, Conor Tracey, Zach Quirke, Alex Finlay

Not sure where Noah Byrne has gone since the U20 6Ns but presumably carrying a knock.

UCD team still not announced.

Teams for the 1A Final as well:

Clontarf:

Tadhg Bird, Dylan O'Grady, Hugh Cooney, Daniel Hawkshaw, Alex O'Grady, Conor Kelly, Sam Owens, Ivan Soroka, Dylan Donnellan, Charlie Ward, Fionn Gilbert, Jim Peters, Paul Deeny, Aaron Coleman, Jordan Coghlan

Reps: Declan Adamson, Alvin Amaniampong, Richie Whelan, Michael Moloney, Dan Magner, Conor Gibney, Darragh Doyle, Bateman

Tarf missing Peter Maher. He's was electric in the first half against Lansdowne last week. Huge loss.

UCC captain Sam O'Sullivan seemed to take ill during the match. Post on UCC's instagram said he was 'responding well to expert care at CUH'.

Awful situation for him but delighted to hear that he appears to be ok.

great to see some massive crowds at the more recent finals and SF last weekend.

Almost reminiscent of the AIL in the 90s. Huge respect to the clubs for doing this.

Today A friend remarked it was 2009 since the last Limerick side won the AIL, looking at the crowds today and last weekend he asked, is the spiritual home of Irish rugby not Limerick, but South County Dublin?

I think it's been clear for a long time that South Dublin is the home of Irish rugby.

Besides, literally physically being the home of the headquarters of the IRFU and the home stadium for the Irish national team, it's also the place where Ireland's oldest (and one of the oldest in the world) rugby club was founded (DUFC), the IRFU itself was founded (in Trinity) and Ireland played its first ever home international (Rathmines).

It's home to Ireland's most successful province, has the country's strongest player producing schools and produces more rugby players than anywhere else in the country.

Munster clubs have been the most successful in the history of the AIL (since 1990), winning 59% of titles in that time frame, but over the past decade South Dublin clubs have won the most (4), with Dublin overall winning 7 of the last 10.

There is nowhere else in the country where rugby is as visible and as embedded in the wider community as it is in South Dublin.

Sam O'Sullivan, the UCC captain, collapsed and was brought to CUH. The match was abandoned at that point, with 66 mins gone, and UCC ahead 31-12. He's thankfully reported to be doing well.