On June 1st 2014 Irish rugby appointed its first ‘Performance Director’. David Nucifora.
The twice capped Wallaby international assumed the role at a time when Irish rugby was in a comfortable and successful position, something he reiterated upon accepting the position.
"Irish rugby is in rude health, Ireland are RBS 6 Nations champions and the provinces are performing well in both the domestic and European competitions.’’
At the time there was very few people that would have disagreed with Nucifora’s words. Ireland were 6 Nations champions, while the domestic European performances of Leinster, Munster and Ulster were meeting expectations. Each province topped their Heineken Cup pool, with only Leinster failing to earn a home quarter-final. Munster progressed to the semi-finals where they were defeated in a closely run affair by a Toulon side destined for greatness, suffering the same fate as Leinster had in the previous round. Ulster too were seemingly on course for a semi-final spot until Payne’s fifth minute red card saw Saracens triumph at Ravenhill. For Ulster particularly the ‘what-ifs?’ of the 2013-14 season will remain for a long time. Connacht too should not be forgotten, earning an impressive home victory over three-time European champions Toulouse. As Nucifora put it, every facet of Irish rugby seemed to be in ‘‘rude health’’.
2014-15 marked a new era in European rugby. The European Champions Cup’s arrival firmly re-organising the finances, structure and qualification process for Europe’s elite club tournament. The reduction in the number of competing teams from 24 to 20, coupled with an overhaul in the seeding system has effectively rebooted the system. The past, as favourable as it had been to the Irish teams, has been erased. No longer is the seeding based on previous performances in the competition. Interestingly Mourad Boudjellal, the Toulon owner, was the most recent critic of this. Europe is now concerned with creating elite competition, making no secret of its goal of being the best club competition in the world. This is being based off incredibly competitive leagues and a brutal European competition all fueled by the ruling that seedings will be based off year-by-year performances.
This impact of these changes were acutely evident by the strength of opposition Munster faced in pool 1. A third placed Pro12 finish earning them a spot in the so-called ‘‘Pool-of-death’’ along with Clermont, Saracens and the underrated Sale. Leinster being drawn with Toulon, Bath and Wasps this year demonstrates further how vital final league standings have now become. This requirement for each province to compete on two fronts seemed to be insurmountable this season leaving the Irish provinces facing into a tougher than ever Pro12 with much more at stake. Ulster, Munster and Connacht’s Pro12 campaigns can be regarded as successful. While Ulster fell in the semi-finals, they secured a third place ranking and Munster a second place ranking. Connacht fell short of their well publicised goal of sixth place, but they did push Gloucester all the way in the qualification play-off semi-final. Leinster’s fifth placed finish is perplexing and can be tracked to a complete drop in form from February on. You cannot help but sympathise with Matt O’Connor’s several public complaints against the IRFU. His side made up the majority of the 6 Nations squad and the disruption of this ultimately played a massive role in the unravelling of the 2014 Pro12 champions season.
The IRFU’s restrictions on the amount of games their internationals play is sensible and practical. The Southern hemisphere test players play in a maximum of 19 Super Rugby games a year, and combined with test matches the most a player will take the field is 32 or 33 times a year. In Ireland if a player took part in every game they could play 35 games for their club alone before representing their country a further 10-12 times. The difference there is plain to see and the IRFU’s intervention is undoubtedly vital to maintain the freshness of its best players. From the IRFU’s point of view it is not feasible for Ireland’s foremost professional rugby players to put their bodies on the line over 40 times a year. As much sense as the policy makes it has a big knock-on effect. The performances of Munster and Ulster compared with Leinster in the latter part of the season were different for several reasons. The fact that Leinster had sizably more players away with Ireland during the 6 Nations and were involved in the knock-out stages of the Champions Cup ultimately cost them in the Pro12. Leinster’s success has become its own hindrance, the impact of the IRFU’s clear priority of the national side is incredibly clear when examining Leinster right now.
The birth of the Champions Cup has created a much tougher European competition and a significantly more competitive Pro 12 and on top of this Leinster have not been afforded the luxury of having their best players available for selection each week. Leinster still fell far short of expectations, whatever way you look at it, but Matt O’Connor can feel rightly aggrieved for how the province and the IRFU treated him. The lack of candidates for the supposedly prestigious Leinster Head Coaches position since his departure evidences this further. The IRFU has a firm grip on every aspect of how the provinces operate, select and recruit. This is abundantly clear when you consider that Leinster have moved to fill the gaps in their back-room staff before a Head Coach has even been employed. The IRFU being clear on its aim to create as many high quality indigenous coaches as possible.
John Fogarty and Girvan Dempsey have been made scrum coach and backs coach respectively with Kurt McQuilkin in place on a short-term deal as defence coach. Leo Cullen will continue is his role as forwards coach and it seems more and more likely by the day that he will take the reigns as Leinster move into the new season with Dempsey his deputy. The position of Head Coach with Leinster offers the chance to work within an already established staff and with a player group which looks set to be disrupted massively by the Rugby World Cup later this year. It is no wonder that suggested candidates such as Jono Gibbes and Tony Brown have reiterated their loyalty to their current positions when linked with the Leinster job. If you coach in Ireland, you coach for Ireland.
Furthermore the IRFU allows very little leeway in relation to player recruitment through the National Player Succession Strategy(NPSS). The policy was announced in 2011 and fully enacted at the beginning of the 2013/14 season, allowing one NIE(Non-Irish eligible) player per position between Ulster, Munster and Leinster. This system is aimed at getting more Irish qualified players in the provinces starting teams each week with the eventual goal of a national team with more depth than ever before. The gains from the system are evident, particularly at Prop, where Leinster have again lead the way. However, the problem here is this policy, while vital to the future of the national team, is causing issues for the competitiveness of the provinces.
The IRFU has put its cards on the table, the national team is the firm priority, there is no two-ways about it, and the results speak for themselves. Ireland sit third in the world as back-to-back 6 Nations champions. However, the IRFU has taken the success of the provincial game for granted. These policies were formed at a time when Munster and Ulster remained competitive in Europe and Leinster were the team every other side feared they would face. The situation now is very different, and the club game is rapidly changing. The Premiership and Top 14 are raising their salary cap frequently making it harder and harder to compete with them. European rugby is on a new path, its re-branding perhaps being more appropriate than previously thought with its similarity to its football equivalent. To compete in Europe you need your best players available every week and you need to be able to sign high quality foreign talent. In France and England the clubs have the power and they can act as they please outside the international window. As they travel in once direction, inevitably our clubs will go in the other. Club and country is a difficult balance to get right, but in the current situation it seems as if a Champions Cup is unlikely to fall into Irish hands in the near future. The IRFU’s policies have paid dividends in terms of national success, but now perhaps it is time to consider the wider impact of them across the provincial game.
No comments:
Post a Comment