Irish rugby team needs more genuine competition for places in the starting 15

THE Rugby World Cup final in Paris is now looming on the horizon and unfortunately Irish interests are limited to former Munster player Felix Jones’ involvement as being part of the South African coaching ticket.

There is also the rather bizarre fact that Munster’s Jean Kleyn is now just 80 minutes away from becoming the first Irish international ever to win a Rugby World Cup. 

We were hoping that Ireland would have World Cup winners medals by the end of the tournament, but not in this scenario.

New Zealander John Gallagher, father of former Munster player Matt Gallagher, almost beat Kleyn to the punch. 

The 1987 World Cup-winning full-back declared for Ireland in the 90’s but only got as far as Ireland A duty. He was good enough for the 1987 All Blacks, but not good enough for the struggling Ireland team of the 1990s apparently.

The can of worms that was Jean Kleyn’s omission from Ireland’s plans in the past year or so can remain perfectly sealed at this juncture, although the fact that we ended up turning to a very green Joe McCarthy for a World Cup quarter-final that we have been spending years preparing for says a lot. 

McCarthy looks to be a very talented player and he will no doubt win multiple caps for Ireland, and the experience has gained at this tournament will prove invaluable, but this World Cup probably came too soon in his development.

Also, the fact that an off-colour Jonathan Sexton lasted the full 80 minutes of the defeat to New Zealand speaks volumes. 

How many times in the last four years have we called for his out-half understudies to be given game time in big games? He needed to be replaced in the last quarter, as his legs looked gone, but Andy Farrell obviously did not trust Munster’s Jack Crowley to close the deal. 

That is what you get for putting all your eggs in one basket, unfortunately.

The glaringly obvious lesson here is that Ireland need to spend the next four years developing a bigger squad. 

This squad ended up being a bit of a closed shop, with a few exceptions such as McCarthy and Crowley, but it was very noticeable how when Munster won the URC last May, with a number of players putting their hand up for international selection, they found that there was no room in the Inn that was the Ireland camp. 

As a result, it was no surprise that a number of Irish players’ form visibly dipped in the last few months, yet there were no alternatives available ready to push them on, or out.

A recent article in the Irish media predicted what the Irish team might look like in 2027. 

It is an impossible task, as you cannot fully legislate for injuries, loss of form or the emergence of new players, but the predicted team was twelve Leinster men, two Munster and one Connacht player. Poor Ulster got no look in at all.

The focus on Leinster and the private school conveyor belt has worked for Ireland, but it has only gotten us so far. 

For Ireland to finally get past that cursed quarter-final barrier we will need more competition for places.

Plus, that team prediction probably was made under the assumption that Leinster will remain the dominant force in Irish rugby. 

With Sexton and Stuart Lancaster now out of the loop there are no guarantees in this regard. Leinster certainly are not going anywhere, but they may come back to the pack in the manner that the Dublin footballers have. They will still be successful, just not have a complete monopoly on success.

One of the ways that Ireland can guarantee this increased competition for places is to stop being overly focused on maximising world ranking points every time they play. 

South Africa are a great example of a team that does not seem to get overly bothered with losing games in between World Cups, yet they invariably peak every four years at the right time.

Ireland fans certainly would not get too upset over losing a few Autumn Internationals or Six Nations games if it meant that the team build for the 2027 World Cup is spot on.