IRELAND NEED TO REVISIT BORDER POLICY
Ignoring players overseas has hurt national side but Covid-altered landscape should force a change
What will IRFU do if key players decide to seek pastures new?
WE’RE still very much in the realm of nostalgia when it comes to rugby in this part of the world.
Fans have been getting up at the crack of dawn every weekend to marvel at Super Rugby Aotearoa and the brilliance of the next generation of New Zealanders. It’s the only real show in town at the moment.
And there has been no shortage of repeats of classic matches to fill the long vacuum of live action across the past four months.
The Pro14’s YouTube channel was taking liberties with that description earlier this week when it streamed a repeat of a clash between Zebre and the Cheetahs from round 10 of the league this year.
Still, there has been some cracking re-runs recently with Leinster’s stunning comeback win over Northampton in that unforgettable 2011 Heineken Cup final getting another airing last weekend.
And nighthawks across the country got a nice mid-week treat on Wednesday when RTÉ2 replayed Munster’s thrilling encounter with the All Blacks at a heaving Thomond Park in 2008.
Twelve years on, it’s still remarkable to think that a scratch side — shorn of all of the Irish internationals who were on duty against the same opposition the weekend before — were within four minutes of repeating the heroics of 1978.
You’d imagine that many people probably decided to watch just the first half — seeing as the game began at 11.25pm the other night — but it was impossible to switch off once the game got going. It was a frantic contest. Munster, to a man, were possessed on the night and had the much-vaunted visitors rattled. It took a late try from revered winger Joe Rokocoko to seal the win in the 76th-minute.
All Blacks boss Graham Henry, utterly spooked by what was going on, had sent on heavy artillery such as John Afoa, Brad Thorn, Kieran Read and Mils Muliaina to get the job done.
There were many standout performances on the home side, but Donnacha Ryan was a force of nature that night.
The Nenagh giant was beginning to become a regular contributor to the Munster pack and that performance was an early snapshot of what he could bring to the operation.
Physical, committed and a brilliant lineout operator, Ryan would soon become a key figure in the Munster engine room alongside Paul O’Connell.
It took a while for Ryan’s talents to be fully appreciated at Test level, though.
Declan Kidney continued to select Donncha O’Callaghan ahead of him even when the Corkman had lost his place to Ryan in Munster, while Joe Schmidt did not seem fully convinced during his early years in the gig.
Eventually, Ryan forced his way into the reckoning.
Eight years on from the night he terrorised the All Blacks in
Limerick, he was back to haunt them again in Chicago, playing a major role in that ground-breaking win at Soldier Field.
By the end of the Six Nations the following year, he looked primed to become a key fixture in Schmidt’s squad heading towards the World Cup.
It looked like Ryan had edged out Devin Toner as Ireland’s lineout technician and was set to form a dynamic second row partnership with Iain Henderson.
You couldn’t think of a better mentor for James Ryan, who was set to burst onto the scene the following summer.
Only thing was Ryan’s deal with the IRFU was about to expire and, when he went back to the bargaining table, he was told that an extension would not be forthcoming. Racing 92 duly stepped in with a lucrative offer (understood to be €600,000 across two seasons) and Ryan bid au revoir to his home province and, ultimately, his Test career.
It seemed like simple economics. The life of a professional rugby player is precarious and no one would begrudge someone broadening their horizons or boosting their pay packet when the opportunities arise.
The IRFU don’t quite see it that way. They want all their best players within the system.
Meanwhile, Ryan has thrived with the Parisians with his fellow Munster exile Simon Zebo recently saying in a newspaper interview that the lock is the first name on the teamsheet these days. His value to the team — as a player, motivator and tactician — is fully recognised.
Which brings us to the 2019 World Cup when Schmidt made the shock decision to leave Toner — one of his most trusted lieutenants — at home.
The Kiwi supposedly wanted a tighthead lock (one of those ‘new age’ rugby terms) for the tournament and Toner was told he was surplus to requirements.
Ryan was 35 but still at the peak of his powers. Yet he was out of the reckoning due to being stationed abroad.
Instead, Schmidt chose to take Jean Kleyn to Japan, a South African who has only qualified for his adopted country on residency
a month prior to the tournament. Everyone knows the score at this stage but you’d have to question a system that disqualified Ryan but welcomed Kleyn into the Ireland set-up.
All that may change in the future, however.
The recent furore over pay cuts is just the beginning.
A flurry of players — including Peter O’Mahony, Keith Earls and CJ Stander — are out of contract next summer and many of them could follow Ryan and seek new opportunities abroad, especially with the Covid-19 crisis likely to limit the enticements required to keep top players at home.
The big question is what will the IRFU do if two or three key players decide to seek pastures new? Could Andy Farrell really afford to leave — for argument’s sake — players like Tadhg Furlong, Conor Murray or Josh van der Flier out of his squad if they fancied a new challenge (and a bigger pay packet) in a foreign league for a few seasons? And what if Sean O’Brien — who looks in the shape of his life over at London Irish — starts carving it up again in the English Premiership?
That’s the potential issue facing the IRFU as we head down an uncertain path in the coming seasons.
In truth, the stay-at-home policy has never really been tested, but that is going to change.
Watch this space.