Agreed. the irfu needs to cast aside it’s current blinkered view of professional rugby which sees the pro12 as a development league, European rugby as international preparation and the 6ns as the holy grail. This attitude is killing interest in the game imo. notice I didn’t even mention the UBL or club rugby as it doesn’t register as far as irfu are concerned. If you read any Welsh or Scottish article or interview in last 12 mths on the subject of the pro12 it always refers to the irfu as an obstacle to change or reform of the competition. They just don’t see the growth potential that exists for the tournament. They used to get the importance of the Heineken cup but now seem to view success there as hindering the national team. it’s affecting morale in the provinces and smacks of snobbery and elitism that they allege to be trying to eradicate from the games image in this country.

If the provinces are struggling in Europe it affects the national team. France and England are buying up big. And we are getting left behind. Ergo, we will struggle in the 6N. We need to allow more overseas players. At the time when the provinces were successful, Munster and Leinster didn’t overload the team with overseas players, but rather got players in what they perceived to be key positions. Ok, Kane Douglas focked Leinster over big time, but surely will Leinster be allowed to get a marquee lock next season? Ulster also had a number of imports; the common denominator was that the provinces were pretty much always at the business end of the European Cup and it filtered through to the national team. If we are not careful, players will move to French and English teams and then we have the situation of whether we still only pick players who are plying their trade in Ireland.

I’ve said it before, I’d much rather see munster be successful than ireland they are the team I watch every week not 7 or 8 times a year. let the provences play their best teams and let the national team pick the best inform fit players when the games come along. stop wrapping guys in cotton wool, they just go soft over time. any player who goes on about how well they are looked after by the irfu is self serving. of course they love it play 15 games a year get 400 grand for it!

Some people are being very reactionary over the Moore business and Leinster and Ulster’s recent struggles. A much bigger factor than the small number of NIQs being allowed is the fact that new and in Leinster’s case inexperienced coaching tickets are bedding in and players are being reintroduced post-RWC. Munster had Kidney and Leinster had Cheika and then Schmidt when they were in their pomp. We need to be patient to see how things work out. More NIQs isn’t necessarily the answer. The scrum debacle at Twickenham in 2012 was in large part down to too many NIQs at the provinces – Afoa at Ulster, Botha at Munster and Stan Wright (in 2011) and Nathan White in (2012) benching behind Ross at Leinster.

Sorry Hans can’t buy into the issue of reintroducing frontliners back again. We’re not seeing this in the Aviva Premiership obviously. Kidney, Cheika and Schmidt had coaching experience before taking over at Munster and Leinster. Leo had 1 season as a forward’s coach. Nothing else. Agree re: the NIQs up until a point. We can control the number of overseas players but we need to allow more. To be honest, if you look across the provinces, we are well served by front row players and back row players. There is no harm in at least one front row player being an overseas player. I don’t us going the way of England and France re: imports, but we need to loosen the leash a bit, otherwise we will continue to struggle in Europe and that affects the national side. I also think that having a pool of 4 teams to pick the national team is too small. We should allow players plying their trade outside of Ireland to be considered for selection. If you’re good enough, you should be given a chance

The big picture is that in reality we have the length of the current European agreement to make the Pro12 a commercial success. The irfu don’t seem to get that. if, at the end of that agreement, we haven’t made the pro12 a commercial success and continue to fall behind the other 2 leagues we are buried. it has already been flagged that PRL intend going after market share of TV money and the LNR will no doubt support that. The commercial value of 6ns cannot compensate for that so the money will have to come from elsewhere. This means investment in our provinces and reform of the league. the irfu don’t seem interested I’m either.

But none of the English or French teams lost anything like the number of players to the World Cup that Leinster and Glasgow did. It’s not really comparable.

On the question of imports, maybe Munster and Ulster should be allowed 4+1 NIQs? I think Leinster are okay with 3+1.

Players plying their trade abroad already are eligible for selection. Sexton and Bowe were picked while playing for foreign teams

I don’t think it’s the number of NIQs that is becoming an issue its the positions these players would fill and that’s where the IRFU say yes or no. We need a little more flexibility. Fair enough on Bowe and Sexton, but the mantra is very much, you play in Ireland, you are in the mix for selection. We only have 4 teams and with a few exceptions, we don’t look beyond. There is a real fear now that some of our top players will move abroad in the next couple of seasons and the game here will suffer because standards will fall. And then attracting top overseas players will be a non-starter. Somebody commented that the IRFU see the Pro 12 as an academy for the national side. Well if the Pro 12 teams get beat up regularly in Europe, the national side will suffer. It is a fine line, but the last 2 weeks have shown that we are starting to lag way behind our English club counterparts and I really worry when we play the French clubs.