A joke doing the rounds in the provinces is that not alone does Eddie O'Sullivan pick the Irish team, but he picks the provincial teams as well.
Certainly he must be the envy of all his Irish predecessors as national coach, and indeed his counterparts in the front line throughout the global game, for no Ireland coach has ever exerted such control over the frontline players.
No fixture has suffered from this more than the jousts between Munster and Leinster, who renew their rivalry next Saturday at Donnybrook. For several years, culminating in the inaugural Celtic League final in December 2001, when an inspired 14-man Leinster team beat Munster 24-20 in front of almost 30,000 at Lansdowne Road, they were the highlights of the domestic calendar.
Ever since it has seemed as if O'Sullivan and the IRFU have strived to keep the frontline Leinster and Munster players away from each other. The fixture usually coincides with national training camps, test weeks or, now, an extended pre-season. It's a shame. Major domestic rivalries are healthy. They happen in every sport everywhere. Let them at it.
Yet O'Sullivan, in tandem with fitness director Dr Liam Hennessy, is not the sole cause of this, not by a long way. This is week three of a 38-week domestic season, followed by the most demanding of summer tours, the two-month Lions trek to New Zealand. Do we really want our players on an unforgiving treadmill for 45 weeks or so?
Save for speculatively capping the number of games to 30 for international players in England, Ireland's European rivals seem not to have factored this into their plans at all. The physical conditioning that goes with a 10-week pre-season can only help Team Ireland compete better at test level. Had Clive Woodward similar control, he'd still be in charge of England.
The IRFU's compromise is to let the Celtic League be a ranking qualifier for Europe, but to reserve the right to nominate Munster, Leinster and Ulster in whatever order they finish, regardless of whether Connacht finish above any or all of them. You sense the union's powerbrokers haven't even countenanced what this means with regard to the play-off place which has been reserved for the Celtic League's highest non-Heineken European Cup qualifier (in a one-off tie away to the third-ranked Italian side). Connacht could be denied this opportunity if, say, one of their fellow provinces finishes below the fourth-ranked Welsh side.
No other sides in Europe have guaranteed entry into the European Cup, so why should Leinster, Munster and Ulster be any different? Besides, what's so terrible about the Parker Pen Challenge Cup? The standard of rugby isn't that far off the European Cup, and Wasps won it two seasons ago as a precursor to winning the European Cup last season. And wouldn't any of the Big Three be more than capable of beating the third-ranked Italian side, especially at full-strength?
There is now an avenue of opportunity open to Irish rugby for all provinces to qualify for the European Cup in any given year, but the IRFU are not fully grasping it. Imagine the boost it would be for Connacht rugby. Yet it's as if the union want to keep Connacht in their box, to let them compete at a certain level but no higher. Even Leinster or Munster could win the European Cup, and yet be saddled with a number three Irish seeding and with it a far tougher draw.
It's true that, after Simon Best (who played only 14 matches for Ulster last season, but started only one test and appeared as a substitute in just three more) was released last week, O'Sullivan and Hennessy will release a few players this week, such as David Wallace, Frankie Sheahan and John Hayes for Munster, and Eric Miller and Guy Easterby for Leinster. But most won't be released.
One leading English player, speaking off the record, believes the leading Irish players are actually mollycoddled, that they don't play anything like enough full-on, competitive matches. At any rate, there would seem to be scope for monitoring players on more of an individualised basis.
While they seemed to be in more camps than the boy scouts last season, even some of Ireland's most overworked players, Ronan O'Gara, Peter Stringer and Hayes (who played 13, 14 and 12 test matches each), played only 10 games for Munster, eight in the European Cup and just two each in the Celtic League; giving them seasonal totals of 23, 24 and 22 matches.
Donncha O'Callaghan, who played only six minutes of rugby in South Africa, hasn't started a match since April. It must be even more frustrating for someone like David Humphreys, who hasn't started a match since mid-May.
Playing as well as ever, he was confined to 15 matches for Ulster last season despite starting just four tests and appearing in another eight as second-half replacement. It looks like more of the same this season and, 33 last Friday, he won't be around for the 2007 World Cup.
One wonders also what sort of mixed message is being sent out to the players themselves when they are prevented from playing in the majority of Celtic League games? At worst, that it's a Mickey Mouse competition. At best that it's nowhere near as important as Europe.
Yet, paradoxically, while Lansdowne Road is sold out for international games, and demand far exceeds supply for European games at Thomond Park and Ravenhill, the most untapped for potential revenue coming through the turnstiles are the Celtic League home matches.
And this Saturday is a prime example. Were Leinster and Munster closer to full-strength, Donnybrook would be a sell-out. With the calendar the way it is, there's no perfect solution. But a bit more leeway, and trust in the provinces, with rest periods built in during the season, would clearly help.
