Gordon D’Arcy: Expanding our player base the name of the game

This is not just about the plight of Connacht or where Robbie Henshaw plays next season. Those issues and the increasing financial lure from overseas clubs concern the long -term health of Irish rugby.

Not only is it time to have four equally funded professional squads but a player moving to the Premiership or Top 14 need not be forsaking his chance of wearing the green jersey anymore.

Not if he’s good enough.

All of this can and should be turned into an advantage because what’s clearer than ever is the need to expand our playing base.

The IRFU system doesn’t have to be revolutionised, it just needs to evolve at a quicker rate. There is a light on outside of Ireland. When a player is drawn towards that light it need not extinguish his international career.We have strong enough production lines now that another player can fill the gap at the provinces.

What made us such a successful rugby nation – at both international and European club level – was our ability to keep control of players and thereby avoid flogging them. By being smarter and less commercially driven than the wealthier and more populated nations the IRFU created a sustainable, profitable even, business model.

But in this busy period of off field contract negotiations, do we need to look at the way we select Irish players?

Johnny Sexton was a recent exception to an unwritten rule – you leave, you don't play for Ireland – and Geordan Murphy's unique skills forced him into that category through three World Cup cycles.

Perhaps the time has come to encourage certain players, just below national team selection, to move abroad and gain valuable experience in England and France, without fear of being exiled.

Leave the door ajar for JJ Hanrahan or Ian Madigan, should he decide to leave Leinster, to be capped if their form demands it. JJ and Ian could potentially become peers of Johnny rather than back up number tens. Same goes for Ian Keatley, Paddy Jackson and even Craig Ronaldson and Jack Carty down in Galway.

Moved abroad

Immediately that strengthens our outhalf stocks. It’s unclear right now whether Madigan or someone like

Simon Zebo

could be recalled by Ireland if they moved abroad. But current logic seems to make it strange to ignore them.

We have to try something because if we continue to feed off our current player base we will be left even further behind. For example, it's worth keeping an eye on Eamonn Sheridan at Oyonnax in France.

Not that I think we will see a mass exodus of players next summer. We saw last year that David Nucifora has brought negotiations with soon to be out of contract players into a pre-Christmas domain (wisely when the French are also seeking signatures).

Most of these players will see the sense and value, which is not always monetary, of staying in Ireland. The IRFU want the best players to remain but they are smart businessmen who strike hard bargains.

It’s about finding a reasonable market value. The weak euro has eroded a lot of the comparative advantage that we had from the tax incentive, which makes it harder than ever to compete.

The 25- to 28-year-old, who is regularly getting capped, is the obvious flight risk. Because they know their time is now. But the deal almost always seems to get done at the 11 hour – usually because everybody wants the same thing; a successful Ireland team.

A new balance needs to be struck.

Of course it’s vital to keep the elite 20-25 nationally contracted players with the provinces. During Eddie O’Sullivan’s time as Ireland coach the current system could afford to be in place as there was only 25 or so players who were capable of playing for Ireland. Besides Geordan Murphy and Simon Easterby, all of them were with the provinces.

But now we need to be picking from a pool of 100 plus players. That’s about the number of Premiership players, all of a similar standard, from which Eddie Jones can pick his first England squad.

Also, with the goalposts shifting so radically at European club level, can we really afford to have one province out of sync, resource-wise, from the other three? Obviously Leinster (Munster and Ulster too) shouldn't be punished for producing the lion's share of talent but Connacht, this season alone, have earned the right to be granted an equal spread of resources.

Because so far, despite one hand being tied behind their back, they are achieving way beyond the expectations of any other Irish province.

If the provinces are to compete, never mind win the Champions Cup but remain competitive at European level, there needs to be increased fluidity between the provinces rather than other provinces stripping Connacht of their most prized assets.

Superior resources

See the developing case of Rodney Ah You. Will he go to Ulster and thereby force Connacht to develop another tighthead, sourced from another province, because Ulster were unable to do this despite superior resources?

Never mind fairness. I’m talking about the long-term success of Irish rugby and now, as I see it more than ever, four strongly funded provinces of equal stature are needed.

This brings us to Henshaw. Is his proposed move away from Connacht the best thing for him and for Ireland? Either way, it will be another heavy dent in the confidence of an organisation that is so impressively striving to grow.

Everyone saw Robbie’s performance against France in Cardiff and many would have tuned in last weekend for Connacht’s utterly deserved first victory at Thomond Park since 1986 (seven years before Robbie was born).

Not even that wrongly awarded penalty try could deny them (Kieran Marmion was close enough for Andrew Conway not be certain of making the line – it was a bad decision by the officials).

I remember Eddie O’Sullivan telling me why he wasn’t picking me for the 2003 World Cup. In most games I did seven, eight really good things, Eddie said, and two or three of them not many other players could do. I had an X factor, he said, but every game I also made about three or four mistakes, one of which tended to be a howler that could leave us under our posts. I knew this and had been working on bringing a greater consistency to my game for almost two years. Anyway, I ran out of time. Tyrone Howe was selected in my stead.

By the 2004 season I ironed out the obvious creases in my game, had switched to centre and started playing regularly for Ireland. I was 24. Robbie is still only 22 but has been that consistent type of player for almost two years. And he’s bigger and stronger.

We could see his intelligence, the rugby intellect, when he shadowed Brian and I in Ireland camp back in November 2013. And there is an X factor.

But what makes Robbie so good is what he does when there’s nothing on. Under serious pressure he doesn’t panic, he just carries well, gets over the gainline and provides quick ball for his scrumhalf.

What’s his best position? I don’t think it’s that big a deal right now. There is no reason why he can’t become Ireland’s version of Ben Smith. No reason why he can’t alternate between 12, 13 and 15 like Smith, really a right winger, did for New Zealand before becoming the outstanding fullback at the World Cup.

Robbie's proposed move to Dublin will undoubtedly further ambitions of winning more Six Nations titles.

If he remains at 12 for Ireland it makes sense to have him playing most weeks with Johnny Sexton. Eventually he may end up at 13 as Jared Payne’s long term successor, with Luke Fitzgerald at 12, which further pushes Leinster’s case. Stuart McCloskey and Eamonn Sheridan should also come into the reckoning, in time, as power 12s for Ireland. Keith Earls is, in my opinion, a better fit in the back three while Bundee Aki is not qualified under residency yet.

By looking at all the options, at home and abroad, Ireland have a wider playing base. Simple logic.

High fielding

What’s a certainty is how important Henshaw has become to Irish rugby over the next two World Cup cycles. Pat Lam can hardly be criticised for using him at fullback after seeing that mighty piece of high fielding under his own posts last weekend – a Munster try came anyway off the next driving maul but Henshaw made them earn it.

Now Lam has the option of two out-and- out playmakers at 10, 12 in AJ MacGinty and Craig Ronaldson with Jack Carty to come in. Like CJ Stander – a ready-made replacement for Peter O’Mahony come the Six Nations with Iain Henderson seemingly set for a long stint at lock – Henshaw made about six plays in attack and defence that were flawless.

The argument that he will improve as a player with Leinster or Munster doesn’t really stack up at the moment as he’s clearly growing at a rapid pace regardless.

Connacht are playing clever, clearly well-coached, rugby at the moment. The impact of two New Zealanders, Andre Bell and Dave Ellis, is clear to see. Both are highly regarded by Joe Schmidt. That could have only helped in their recruitment. It was clear that these innovative coaches kept some moves especially for the trip to Limerick.

On eight minutes, off a really solid scrum, Tiernan O’Halloran came off his wing and broke the gainline. Then Bundee Aki did the same.

Kieran Marmion – who has clearly improved his passing and box kicking, aided by time spent in Ireland camp – shaped to go left but seeing the Munster defensive pillars had overfolded he picked a difficult pass to the switching run of AJ MacGinty.

It was the same attack we saw when Australia’s Bernard Foley and Kurtley Beale combined to break England at Twickenham. Just lacking execution and composure. MacGinty will learn from that. If he had taken contact, instead of a wild offload to Ultan Dillane, Connacht would have scored from the next phase.

There were several more micro plays in midfield when a forward pod gave the ball out the back to Ronaldson or O’Halloran or Matt Healy looping around.

I had to look back to see where the space came from for Aki’s late try as Connacht were down numbers. When Johnny Muldoon picks and goes on 76.45 two Munster players condense into the ruck. That brought several red jerseys in a step or two, creating space in between defenders further out.

Henshaw still did brilliantly to beat Earls on the inside, take the next tackle and offload (breaking his hand in the process). Ian Keatley pushes Aki. Mike Ford, back when he was Ireland’s defence coach, used to always say you hit on suspicion and deal with the consequences. You don’t push on suspicion.

Support structures

But the victory was confirmation that after being granted improved support structures these past two years, Connacht have earned the right to become a formal, full province. It’s time for equality.

Not that Leinster needs to be put at a disadvantage to grow Connacht.

The Leinster schools system alone could supply half their Academy without impacting on its own supply line. There is enough talent to go around.

This is already happening just in a less formal manner. Due to the backrow backlog at Leinster, Nick Timoney has gone up to Ulster with Conor Oliver down in Munster. Connacht have taken recent players from Cistercian College Roscrea into their system but they could look across the entire schools system.

The New Zealand structures shift bodies around the Super Rugby and provincial squads to ensure exposure to first XV rugby. Dan Leavy and Josh van der Flier are now showing their worth as Leinster flankers after several seasons in the Academy. In Connacht one of them could have been an established first team professional by now.

Now you can’t make somebody move but you can change the culture. But if Connacht continue to progress the stigma of going west will dissipate and more internationals will come from their squad.

That’s also why more Irish players could carve out a club career in England or France if opportunities are lacking in their position at home. All the while knowing it is not career suicide. By doing all of this we, as a rugby nation, can grow not at a faster rate but at the necessary rate to remain a competitive entity.

And it can be done. A few years ago Connacht weren’t seen as financially viable, nor was a Sevens programme deemed possible. Change doesn’t need to be fostered upon us, we can be proactive in controlling our own destiny.

As we have seen across Ireland in recent years, recessionary times can also be a period of remarkable creativity.