Martin’s right to be excited about his new product
I’VE ALREADY said in my column ahead of the new season that I’m hugely excited about the Guinness PRO14 kicking off. And I was delighted this week to see league supremo Martin Anayi bigging up the competition.
His comments that Munster and Leinster are the biggest two clubs in the world got some people laughing and raised a couple of headlines.
But good on him for taking pride in the product he is delivering. I don’t know Martin, but I applaud the job he’s done in getting the 14-team league off the ground in such a short space of time. That can’t have been easy. It’s hugely important for the PRO14 that we get behind the product that’s being delivered. For too long there’s been so much negative press about the league.
Now is the time to change that and I don’t think you can argue too much with Martin’s statement about Munster and Leinster. They’re two giants clubs, with amazing support who travel home and away in large numbers. Look at the success they’ve had in Europe and the players they’ve developed along the way.
At Munster there’s been Paul O’Connell, Ronan O’Gara and Peter Stringer. Over in Dublin, Leinster had a bloke called Brian O’Driscoll who wasn’t bad as well as Shane Horgan and, more recently, guys like Sean O’Brien. That’s without mentioning most of the guys who are playing in those respective sides now.
Munster and Leinster are undoubtedly two giants in the global game and whether you agree with that or not, they’re now joined in the PRO14 by sides who can push them all the way. Scarlets won the league last year, the Ospreys are consistently in and around the top four and teams like Glasgow and Ulster have made massive strides in recent seasons.
It’s made for a hugely competitive league. I still don’t think the PRO14 can rival Super Rugby in terms of its quality or the Aviva Premiership with its big name players. But there’s no doubt it’s going the right way and that’s the most important thing.
There have been a lot of changes to the format but with South African sides Cheetahs and Southern Kings coming in, it looks like the league is the better for it.
I think the gap is closing on the English and French leagues and that can only be good for the global game.