ON RUGBY:Leinster versus Munster, there probably won't be a better all-Irish match this season, writes Gerry Thornley

FOR YEARS there was undoubtedly a definite policy by the Irish management and the IRFU to keep Leinster and Munster at arm's length. But now they meet at least twice per season with ne'er a hint of anyone being held back. Everybody wants to play, and for the supporters as well it has become the stand-out fixture outside of Heineken Cup matches. Is this for the better of Irish rugby? The answer is a no-brainer.

In times past the fixtures invariably coincided with Test windows or if they didn't, the front-liners were pulled into an international camp anyway. There had been a run of good games, at full-strength, in the late 1990s, ironically when the interpros became a six series, home-and-away format and was never stronger.

With the advent of the then Celtic League in the 2001-02 season, there was a hint of what was to come when the two provinces reached the competition's inaugural final. They couldn't very well be wrapped in cotton wool for that one and a crowd of over 30,000 witnessed a surprise, and stirring 24-20 win by a 14-man Leinster in December '01. Like never before, and perhaps for the first time in history, the old ground echoed to the unfamiliar strains of "Lein-ster, Lein-ster".

There would be a bitter 6-6 draw toward the end of that season in Musgrave Park, when the ball and the scoreboard appeared to be incidentals to the bitter feuding on the pitch, at which point the interpros were sadly disbanded. One wonders why they couldn't be revived, complete with some kind of prize, given the provinces play each other twice every season now anyway.

It was as if that Musgrave Park draw set off alarm bells. In any event, they didn't meet at all the following season, 2002-'03, and in the next two seasons their fixtures either fell in September (during the front-liners' ongoing pre-season) or on the eve of the Six Nations.

Not the least maddening aspect of this "arrangement" was it denied both teams, supporters, the respective branches and the league of what always had the makings of a marquee fixture. Finally, over three years since the inaugural league final, the players were let off their leashes and, with both at full-strength, Munster outmuscled Leinster 18-13 at Musgrave Park in January '05.

All changed irrevocably the following season, when the front-liners' pre-season ended in time for Munster and Leinster to lock horns in October, a week before the Heineken Cup started. Munster thrashed a crestfallen Leinster 33-9, by four tries to nil, in Musgrave Park. Leinster avenged that defeat the following New Year's Eve, when Felipe Contepomi practically jumped into the crowd to score his second and Leinster's fourth try in a 35-23 win at the RDS.

Then came the mother of all battles, the '06 Heineken Cup semi-final in Lansdowne Road, the Red Army's invasion of Lansdowne Road that sunny Sunday in April, and Ronan O'Gara scaling the in-goal advertising hoardings after clinching Munster's clinical 30-6 win.

Suddenly a terrible new beauty was born. There was no turning back after that.

The kid-gloves approach undoubtedly diluted the rivalry, with Leinster-Munster games only occasionally fulfilling the criteria of what Clive Woodward would deem: Massively Full On. But now the gloves are off, especially so between the rival supporters.

A new breed of rugby fan has evolved in all the provinces. One ventures that in the vast majority of cases, they rarely if ever see the sky over their local club ground. In many cases too, they probably haven't had access to tickets for Irish games, especially for home matches, although the increased capacity of Croke Park must have changed that to a degree. In any event, several thousand hardcore supporters would probably put their province above even their country.

Amid the fans' own increasingly bitter, whatever about sweet, rivalry, the rumour mill would have it it has also divided the Irish squad - never more so than during the ill-fated World Cup campaign almost one long, long year ago. It became like an episode of Big Brother, albeit with less access to what was going on behind closed doors, but in truth there is no evidence whatsoever that the rumours had any substance. More likely people were looking for reasons that didn't exist to explain away such a lamentably ill-prepared and managed campaign.

For sure, there have been some "verbals" on the pitch during these games, although given players such as Peter Clohessy and Mick Galwey took part in the fixture, this is hardly unique. Granted too, it became especially bitter between Contepomi and the likes of O'Gara, Donncha O'Callaghan and Denis Leamy.

Ironically though, there appeared to be a notable effort by all parties to tone this down last season, and all the while, the matches have remained compelling, with the sides trading handsome home wins two seasons ago before Leinster's double last season. That makes eight cracking games in a row, all of which have been beneficial for Irish rugby, not least because the leading players now earn respect from each other whenever they meet.

High-profile rivalries underpin all successful international sides. The rivalry between Leicester and Wasps, in latter years, has appeared to verge on hatred but it didn't stop the two clubs backboning England's World Cup win in 2003 or reaching the final last year. Nor did the Barcelona-Real Madrid rivalry in Spain prevent them from winning the European Championships. Trawl through all the leading rugby nations, and be it Auckland/Waikato, Otago/Canterbury, the Waratahs and either the Reds or the Brumbies (depending on the era, for these are cyclical as well), Toulouse and Stade Francais, and it's the same, not just in rugby but in virtually all professional team sports.

A week before the next instalment, despite a spectator-unfriendly Sunday evening kick-off designed primarily with the armchair pundit in mind, it is already an 18,500 sell-out. There probably won't be a better all-Irish rugby match this season, save, perhaps, for the return game.

The game in this country has never had anything quite like it. Irish rugby should, by rights, be proud of Leinster versus Munster.