David Humphreys - IRFU Performance Director

I like the change in CC's and the 40% charge back. Think its hard on leinster and the transition is painful but in the long run I think it is probably a fairer looking system. I'm a Connacht fan and I hated the inequity of facing a Munster or Leinster team loaded with quality players that were effectively off budget.

Also I think all rugby is cyclical, ireland have had a good team for the last while, its unlikely to continue uninterrupted. Humphries will likely feel the backlash from fans as guys like Furlong, Beirne, VDF, Conan, JGP, Henshaw, Aki and Lowe age out and we struggle to replace them from our pool of 100 players.

The big question for me around Humphries is can get Munster to contribute to the pot in line with the size and potential of the province and if he can he will have done well.

Ultimately WC, 6N, 3Crowns, under 20 WC and 6N finishing positions will be the measure.

Another area where Humphreys seems to have gotten very little scrutiny though is the whole Munster - Roger Randle debacle, and the failure on the IRFU's side to take any action against Munster's hierarchy since then.

Joe Petrie got 'mutually-consented' out the door at Ulster for nothing on the scale of incompetence Ian Flanagan has demonstrated.

The women's team playing in front of 9k in Galway and 30k in the Aviva is doing far far more to promote the sport than the sevens programme was.

There's a separate argument about pathways and the manner of the cancellation.

I'd need far more detail to have an opinion about the appropriate levels of spend on the women's game, but our programme was an absolute farce in the early 2020s compared to the strength of our men's team. The increased spend is clearly paying dividends - both in terms of results and attendances.

There's clearly a market for the women's game, as evidenced by the Red Roses in particular. We will almost certainly break our own attendance record again next season with England and France at home, perhaps even with a sell-out.

I think the men's games cannibalise themselves to an extent - the impact of having so many big games at the Aviva is being felt by Leinster during their URC run-in. I think there's a very good chance that W6N games draw in a lot of fans who don't attend the men's games, and who aren't tapped out by the frequency of big games. The IRFU will have oodles of data on this and I'm sure have conducted market research as well.

I'd read Flanagan's interview in the Examiner a few weeks back though as him effectively drawing a line in the sand under it.

In general - the IRFU's public silence around the whole debacle, amidst ongoing obvious governance issues and resignations etc, is still surprising to me.

I don't disagree with that. But it's never been an open and forthcoming organisation.

It wasn't forthcoming about Jackson and Olding - its hand was forced due to the intense, island-wide interest (especially from Southern media who are forbidden to name Southern sports stars who are similarly accused). And while there was a load of bitching online about Petrie by myself and most other Ulster fans (what an incompetent disappointment he turned out to be), the IRFU itself never spoke about what role he/managment played in the the cancelled home European game or the wisdom of installing a new artifical pitch after the horse had bolted.

It would be nice to have more - and improved - communication, but this is just business as usual.

I totally get the concern from Leinster fans, its hard to see how any of this will help Leinster. I am also very afraid that a weakened Leinster will lead to a weakened Ireland. Unfortunately I think that Leinster in the last decade has been an anomaly and that remaining permanently at the top of the game would be a complete outlier in sport in general. No team remains at the top. It seems quite fashionable to dis Wales at present but their enormous success in the Gatland era is being paid for now, lets hope Leinster and Ireland have been paying attention.

I am encouraged by the appointments of Duffy and Payne at Munster as they are both good coaches and should help Munster with what effectively needs to be a relaunch next season.

Connacht and Women's rugby so far look to be the early winners of the Humphries era. If we can see either Ulster or Munster move on a bit in the next season while Leinster continue to perform then it will be a huge win. The success of Irish Rugby for the last decade is nothing short of a minor sporting miracle and will be a serious miracle if we can continue it.

Yep, jury is well and truly out.

.

Only a matter of time before we heard that hoary old chestnut of Leinster giving limited opportunities to younger players.

It’s supported by nothing, of course. All the stats show otherwise, no team in Irish rugby has given as many minutes to young players over the past 5 years or so, and no team consistently year over year has given so many minutes to academy players. We’ve seen very positive steps in this regard this season from Ulster and Connacht, but Leinster have been doing this for a decade at this stage.

This has been discussed at length on here and there are disagreements about it but is is definitely the case that players have gotten to mid 20s with derisory numbers of caps at Leinster. Off the top of my head Foley is one, I don't now much about him but he's at Leinster of the guts of 8 years incl academy and has less than a dozen starts iirc, Will Connors (yes, injuries) 40 odd caps in a decade. We will see with a smaller pannel how things change.

Your great examples in support of this is Cormac Foley, Leinster’s 4th choice scrum half who was set to be cut this season and a guy who has a literally notorious, chronic injury history but who has started Champions Cup Finals when healthy?

It’s a literal fact, and I’ve shared the data here before, about the minutes Leinster have consistently given to young players and Academy players, but ignore that for your couple of cherry picked examples and drive on, sure.

So these guys would be on equivalent caps at Connacht or Munster? Connors max seasons, uninjured, were something like 10 or 11 caps. VDF, Penny (probably other 7s there too over the last decade) and himself at the same Irish club didn't serve Ireland that well.

One of the most thoughtful takes I've seen on this thread.

What makes it rare as hen's teeth is the "well it depends what he decides and how how he delivers that" approach.

His reign of terror may or may not be as good as Nucifora's, for reasons within or outwith his control. But the idea of judging him on how how it actually turns out is the kind of out-there thinking that will never catch on in this here forum.