Identity crisis
Former Ireland captain Kingston fears the policy of promoting imports is hurting the development of our homegrown talent
AROUND this time eight years ago, Declan Kidney’s Ireland were gearing up to face the Springboks in Dublin. Having relied on the remarkably durable John Hayes to lock out the scrum for the previous decade, Mike Ross was now carrying the can at tighthead. There was little in the way of quality cover behind Ross, however, and Kidney made the shock decision to stick Michael Bent on the bench that weekend.
It was quite the call. Bent had only just arrived in the country earlier that week. Leinster had signed the Taranaki tighthead — who qualified for Ireland via a Dublin-born grandmother — but he was parachuted straight into national duty. No sooner had Bent landed in Dublin airport when he was whisked over to Carton House for training. Once the obligatory picture of the Kiwi holding a hurley and sliotar was sorted, he was straight onto the scrum machine. He hadn’t even checked into his apartment yet.
It was a decision that drew consternation, with Keith Wood leading the charge.
‘How in the name of Jesus are we getting to the point where a
“Where have all the Irish players gone?”
guy flies into the country and he will play for Ireland?’ the former Ireland hooker said at the time.
Thankfully, there has been no repeat of those farcical scenes, but it was a portent for things to come. This decade has been the most successful in the history of Irish rugby, but it has also been defined by the IRFU’s ‘project player’ scheme.
Earlier this week, Andy Farrell named five players — Quinn Roux, CJ Stander, Jamison-Gibson-Park, Bundee Aki and James Lowe — who have all qualified to play for Ireland via the three-year residency rule (which will increase to five from January 1). A further three players on the bench (Rob Herring, Finlay Bealham and Billy Burns) are eligible by dint of having an Irish grandparent.
The IRFU — and the provinces — may look at this development as a triumph for their talent identification, but it has long been a divisive issue among players and supporters.
Before Wood, there was Terry Kingston, the former Dolphin, Munster and Ireland hooker who represented his country at three
World Cups, captaining his country at the 1995 tournament. Like many ex-players, he has concerns about the current state of affairs.
‘What struck me when I heard this team was, 10 years ago when they won a Grand Slam with literally an Irish team, I think Tom Court might have been the only guy who was on the squad who was a foreigner,’ said the 30-times capped Corkman. ‘Then 10 years later when they won the next one there were two southern hemisphere guys, Bundee Aki and CJ (Stander). Then a few years after that we’ve got five guys on the team and two or three on the panel so I just wonder is it a progression or just something that’s happening at the moment?
‘Unless it’s policy? The question I would pose is where have all the Irish players gone? Look, I don’t have a gripe against foreign players. There’s so many good players down in the southern hemisphere and they think, “I wouldn’t mind playing rugby in Europe”.
‘So they might get on to an agent in Europe and all of a sudden you’ll have a southern hemisphere player coming over to your province. My question is do we now have a policy of getting in these players rather than trying to develop Irish players more, have we just suddenly decided that we’ll always fill a gap with a southern hemisphere player?
‘Are we not developing the Irish players more than we have in the past? Are we always going to go a foreign player when we’re stuck?
‘I don’t want to be hammering these guys. Look, if they had a choice, would they want to put on a New Zealand jersey or an Ireland jersey? Which would have been their first preference?’
The IRFU have slowly moved away from the project player policy and are now focusing on the IQ programme, which aims to source Irish- qualified players f rom abroad. It has already recruited Burns, Will Addison and Mike Haley — sourced from Gloucester and Sale Sharks — all earning caps across the past two years. More will follow.
But Kingston has sounded a warning, citing the ill-fated reign of Brian Ashton as Ireland coach in 1997. ‘Ashton ignored the All
Ireland League and said the future was all these English players that he was going to find in the Premiership,’ he recalled. ‘I’m just worried that there’s a bit of that creeping in again.’
Ironically, Ashton would leave after a year and the mighty fourin-a-row Shannon side — featuring Hayes, Mick Galway, Anthony Foley and Alan Quinlan — would spearhead a resurgence in Munster and the national team’s fortunes in the 2000s.
Nationality and identity are thorny subjects. Many have argued that the IRFU have done nothing wrong while others argue this policy has eroded the identity of the national team.
Ireland may win this afternoon at Twickenham, but you’d wonder how history will judge this chapter of Irish rugby?
‘When you saw those Six Nations wins or when Munster and Leinster won Heineken Cups, there’s a huge connection there. They were great days,’ Kinston added.
‘You just feel that the more southern hemisphere players that do come in, then those wins… do they become a bit diluted?’
“I’m worried about a return to the Ashton days”