FOR THE SECOND time in three years, the United Rugby Championship final will take place without an Irish province involved.
Munster won the competition in 2023 but there’s no doubt that the Irish teams aren’t having things all their own way in the new guise of this competition since the big four from South Africa joined in 2021.
Leinster, who had won four Pro14 titles in a row before the new era, haven’t even been to a URC final yet.
Prior to an all-South African final in 2022, there had been at least one Irish province in the final of the Celtic League/Pro12/Pro14 for an unbroken stretch of 14 years.
There were 10 Irish winners in that time, Leinster claiming seven titles, Munster two, and Connacht one. Even before the all-Welsh final between the Ospreys and Cardiff in 2007, an Irish side had always been involved. Leinster, Munster, and Ulster all won titles in the first five seasons of the Celtic League.
The URC was fertile ground for Munster last year but this season has ultimately been an unhappy one for the four Irish provinces. Leinster and Munster were favoured to win their semi-finals last weekend but instead it’s the Bulls who host Glasgow in Pretoria in today’s sold-out decider [KO 5pm, Premier Sports 1/RTÉ News].
Leinster reached the Champions Cup final this season and were beaten in agonising circumstances as they went to extra time with Toulouse.
But overall, the Irish sides weren’t able to make a dent on the competition. This was the second consecutive season that Leinster were the only Irish quarter-finalists.
2019 was the last time there were three Irish quarter-finalists, while Connacht have yet to reach that stage of the competition. The westerners won’t be in the Champions Cup next season, having finished 11th in the URC.
Leinster have been extremely close for the last three seasons but the frustrating reality is that their most recent Champions Cup title was six years ago.
Since the flurry of successes for Munster in 2006 and 2008, then Leinster in 2009, 2011, and 2012, there has been only one Irish winner in 12 years of this competition. French clubs have won seven titles in that time, with English sides claiming four.
Leinster getting across the line just once in heir four final defeats [2019, 2022, 2023, 2024] would have changed the picture and they are expected to be in the mix again in both competitions next season, with the world-class RG Snyman and Jordie Barrett joining their already excellent squad.
But there are worries in Ireland that it is only going to get more difficult for the provinces to compete.
To their credit, Munster finished top of the URC regular season table this season, backing up their remarkable title success. Ultimately, though, they underperformed in the semi-final defeat to Glasgow as their campaign ran out of steam.
Major injury issues were a hindrance to their season and there is optimism within the province about how the redevelopment of their squad – an ongoing process in which they’re transitioning from long-time stalwarts to a younger core of players – will leave them in a better position in the next two or three years.
Exits in the Round of 16 of the Champions Cup in the last two seasons are not what Munster aspire to and there will be strong determination to go at least one step further next time around.
New head coach Richie Murphy steadied the Ulster ship after taking over following Dan McFarland’s departure in February, but there’s no doubt that the northern province have gone backwards in the last couple of seasons.
In 2021/22, they were moments away from a home URC final but they lost a home quarter-final to Connacht last season and just squeezed into the play-offs this time around before losing to Leinster.
In the Champions Cup, Ulster have won just two of their nine games over the last two seasons.
Connacht won one of their four Champions Cup matches this season on their brief return to the competition, while they haven’t had joy in the second-tier Challenge Cup either.
Having done an excellent job of reaching the URC semi-finals last year, they dropped to 11th this season and missed out on the play-offs. Similarly to Ulster and Munster, the Connacht squad is shifting towards a younger core of players as several experienced campaigners depart this summer.
These three provinces would love to be able to add high-quality players like Snyman and Barrett ahead of next season but that’s not their reality right now. With the IRFU tightening the budgetary belt post-Covid, the provinces have to be smart with their spending.
Whatever about how the provinces are performing and planning, the evidence is that the competition they face is getting stronger. It’s obvious that the URC is a more difficult competition with the big South African sides involved.
Glasgow have also improved notably and Benetton have been building impressively for years now. Even if the Welsh sides are struggling badly and Zebre remain the whipping boys of the league, very little can be taken for granted.
The English Premiership clubs have enjoyed a resurgence in the Champions Cup this season, with Northampton particularly impressive. Next season, the salary cap for the Premiership goes up from £5 million to £6.4 million so there’s great belief in England that their clubs can continue to improve.
Meanwhile, French rugby recently confirmed a new blockbuster TV rights deal with Canal+. The broadcaster will play €696.8 million to show the Top 14 and Pro D2 from 2027 to 2032, an estimated 13.3% boost on the previous agreement.
This deal is said to be more than double what the URC and Premiership bring in, meaning the French clubs will feel they can continue to lead the way in the Champions Cup. They have won the last four consecutive trophies, with two for Toulouse and two for La Rochelle.
As things stand, Leinster are the only club in the URC with the resources to match those French giants, so the expectation will be that they can keep pace with them and, finally, beat them to a Champions Cup title.
Budgets are a good indicator of a club’s chances of competing but it’s not all about money. Irish rugby prides itself on having a joined-up system that means all of the best homegrown players stay here, are carefully managed, and have relatively long careers.
The IRFU has put a strong focus on coaching, both in the pipeline and in the professional teams, but it’s a highly pressurised gig even for the coaches who are winning.
And whatever about concerns that the provinces might struggle to compete for trophies, the IRFU can rightly point out that the Ireland team has never been stronger. Andy Farrell’s side have won back-to-back Six Nations titles, the first of them a Grand Slam, and enjoyed a first-ever series success in New Zealand two years ago.
They came up short in the World Cup quarter-finals yet again last year but they are seen as one of the best teams in the world. If Ireland keep winning, the union will likely feel that the system beneath the national team is in ideal working order.
But fortunes can change quickly at the top end of sport. There’s no doubt that Munster, Ulster, Connacht, and Leinster being highly competitive and winning as often as possible is a good thing for Ireland.
“I’m driven that provincial success and national success aren’t mutually exclusive,” said new IRFU performance director David Humphreys recently.
“It’s actually the complete opposite – we need our provinces to be competitive so Ireland can continue to get to where they’ve got to.”
Next season feels like a big one with that in mind.
