PUTRID PROJECT SINKS TO NEW LOW
LAST we e k e n d represented a powerful restoration of f aith in what international rugby could, and should, stand for.
Not Ireland’s facile but unconvincing win over an utterly abject Welsh side on Friday night but rather Argentina’s glorious, unexpected triumph over New Zealand the next day.
It was highly emotional viewing, starting with captain Pablo Matera explaining why he milled into the All Blacks after one had slapped his team-mate in the face. ‘It is not respect,’ he told referee Angus Gardner in broken English. ‘I play for my country. That is not respect.’
It continued with the ferocious, feral commitment displayed by players who had not tasted action in 402 days due to the pandemic and had trained i ndividually i n apartments, sheds and gardens to prepare for opponents match-hardened over many months.
And it culminated in the unrestrained, tearful celebrations of head coach Mario Ledesma (one of the greatest Pumas), his team, the non-playing squad in the stand and the pockets of Argentina supporters around the Sydney Stadium.
There was a collective, overwhelming desire to give the country a lift as it battles the wretched effects of Covid-19 ( Argentina’s death total is pushing 40,000) and it was too much for a fully- l oaded All Blacks side to handle.
Seeing how much this victory meant was powerful viewing and it was no coincidence that every one of the 23 Pumas on duty last Saturday was born
“Ireland have
been reduced to a franchise”
and reared in the country they were, truly, representing.
There is no money in Argentinian rugby. No professional domestic league worthy of the name, no club salaries to compete with the Pro14, English Premiership or Top14.
The professional outlet for Argentina was the Jaguares, a Super Rugby side kept exclusively for homegrown players, but after making the final last season, the franchise has been cast aside by virus-inspired remodelling of that f l awed tournament.
This lack of incentive means no money trail for the mercenaries to follow and Argentinian rugby is free of the hordes of Kiwi, Aussie and South African rugby nomads that spread themsleves around Europe.
Thus, the residency rule does not apply and the Argentina team is reserved for, believe it or not, actual Argentinians.
The landscape in Irish rugby could not be more removed.
Rather than focus exclusively on home-produced talent, the IRFU have actively courted the residency and ‘granny’ rules — justified on the basis of Ireland’s r el atively meagre playing resources and the fact that (nearly) everyone else is doing it, so why shouldn’t we?
And so we have arrived at a nadir in the whole sorry, unsavoury mess — namely Ireland’s 23-man squad for Saturday’s clash with England.
A third of Ireland’s starting side for Twickenham (Quinn Roux, CJ Stander, Jamison Gibson- Park, Bundee Aki and James Lowe) are residency qualified ‘ project’ players and another three on the bench (Rob Herring, Finlay Bealham and Billy Burns) developed in other countries before trying their hand in Ireland through the ancestry ruling.
The fact they are pulling on green jerseys in Twickenham this weekend is not the fulfilment of a lifelong ambition but rather a pragmatic, career decision and no amount of anthem learning, tearful singing or citizenship acquiring will make it anything else.
The simple truth is that, if there was no financial incentive on offer for playing rugby in this country (as there isn’t in Argentina), these players would not be here. It’s not personal, it’s business.
The counter arguments are that players such as Stander and Aki give their all, which cannot be disputed, and that it is all within permitted boundaries, no issue there, but there is an import duty to be paid here by the IRFU, one that threatens the foundations of Irish rugby and concept of playing for ‘your’ country. Too many are happy to go along with it, thrilled by the physical abandon of a Stander or Aki, or by the pony-tailed exuberance of Lowe and there is also a historical ‘doff the cap’ yearning to acclaim outsiders embracing the Irish way — attitudes which ignore the underlying financial forces at play.
But most corrosive is the message sent out to the grassroots of the game, into the schools, clubs and academies — basically saying you can give your all to the game over many years, work your way up towards the top and then get cut off by a player who decided to try their hand in a new country or make the most of a grandfather from Co. Down.
That this policy has been condoned by those that run the game in this country, makes it all the more insidious and it has had the effect of reducing the Ireland national side to the status of just another professional franchise — culminating in yesterday’s selection.
Regardless of Saturday’s result, it will be impossible for many to get behind this Irish team the way it was to admire the potency of a proper sense of national i dentity with Argentina last weekend.
This selection is a slap in the face for Irish rugby.
To echo Matera... this is not respect.
No, it is an insult.