When the dust settles, what does the Sexton move mean for Irish rugby?
It’s less than 24 hours after Brendan Fanning gave the first “official” announcement that the previously unthinkable had happened.
Since the Indo journo likes to tar all keyboard warriors as “online loonies” I’m sure he took great pleasure in watching his twitter timeline shortly after he posted to take in many of the frenzied reactions.
But the print media wasn’t without it’s own crazy responses. It seems this morning I’m supposed to feel good about the fact that assurances have been received from Declan Kidney that Sexton will still be picked for Ireland. I have to say…anyone who honestly believed there was any doubt that the Irish coach would do anything but select the presumptive Lion starter & best out-half in the northern hemisphere when fit is definitely headed for “loony” territory.
Elsewhere I hear people like Daire O’Brien asking if this move means Ireland is somehow “turning into Wales”. Again this is failing to appreciate the scale of what has happened.
The likes of Lee Byrne, James Hook and Gethin Jenkins didn’t abandon the leek for the onion because the latter was promising top dollar. They left because the WRU couldn’t provide anything remotely resembling average dollar, and this was because back home the regional setup never captured the imagination of the rugby-mad public.
Here, things are extremely different. Maybe there was a bit of good fortune in the IRFU’s successful handling of the transition to professionalism, but there’s almost always some luck involved in every business success. I have to give them credit for their central contract and player management programmes for getting the game in this country as far as it has. The Grand Slam drought has been broken, Heineken Cups have been won by three of the four provinces, and we can all talk seriously about winning World Cup pools and maybe even one day a top-four finish.
Still, ever since 2005 when O’Driscoll went on his little stroll around the Stade Aguilera we have been preparing ourselves for the possibility of the central contract bubble bursting. These Top14 sugar daddies are highly successful businessmen who are not used to hearing the word “non”. So the day was bound to come that one of them was going to make an offer the Irish jewel in the crown du jour couldn’t refuse, and right now that is most definitely Sexton.
Am I sad to see him go? Obviously, as a Leinster season ticket holder, of course I am. But as an Irish rugby fan, my feelings are mixed.
For all the justification the IRFU may have for their policies getting them to this point, I believe there has to come a time when they need to put some faith outside the island and begin to let their grasp of Irish players go. The notion that they have some trust issues has been there since they first announced that far-fetched “succession policy”, which many are still trying to comprehend.
What I can’t comprehend is this assertion that only players under the IRFU’s control should be deemed fit to play for Ireland. Well – it’s an assertion only so far as the convenient exceptions that were made for Tommy Bowe and Geordan Murphy in 2009, of course, and no doubt for Sexton as well.
But is there some way that we can view yesterday’s events as a watershed? That perhaps Irish “elite” players plying their trade in the Top14 or Premiership isn’t necessarily a horrible thing anymore?
Before the Wolfhounds/Saxons match last night I watched part of a Top14 clash between Perpignan and Clérmont. Despite the fact that the Six Nations was just over a week away, Les Jaunards still named Morgan Parra, Aurelien Rougerie and Wesley Fofana to their starting lineup. Now I know the whole argument about the French having a much deeper playing base, but come on – those three names are all definite starters for the national team. And it’s true, Parra was taken off at one point with a suspected concussion, which it could be said supports the IRFU’s bulk-buying of cotton wool.
I tend to see it differently. Players need to play and coaches need to coach. Injuries can always happen. While nobody can expect someone to take part in up to 29 domestic matches, up to 9 European matches AND up to a dozen tests throughout the course of a rugby season, the best players should be playing as much as is possible, and what’s more, the fans who shell out for season tickets deserve to see the star players more often than not.
That’s not to say I lay the blame totally at the IRFU’s door for being control freaks, mind you. A lot of this is directly connected to my biggest pet-peeve about European pro rugby – its calendar. We still accept the notion that it’s ok to have Pro12 matches one week, Heineken Cup for the next two, then the Six Nations, with some Pro12 thrown in while the premier international tournament is in progress. We accept it, because the professional club tournaments were shoe-horned into the schedule around the existing Six Nations. But I try not to harp on too much about this anymore because I know nothing will ever be done about it.
What I feel the IRFU can do now is relax their grip a tad. I really don’t think it’s as terrifying a prospect as they may think it is. For example, if Niall Morris is playing well at Welford Road, why not have a look at him in a green jersey even though he can’t room at Carton House with everyone else?
And dare I suggest a move away from central contracts, allowing instead the provinces to negotiate their own deals? The central idea never fully sat well with me anyway, mostly because it made players “undroppable”. We may have a limited player pool on these shores (particularly in the front row going by last night’s display), but they’re not THAT limited. Any coach of any team needs to have alternatives for every position and players need to know they have to earn their jersey from what they do on the pitch, not what’s written on a piece of paper in their solicitor’s office.
But these are just some ramblings the morning after the day before. There may well be some more twists in this particular tale yet.
I genuinely wish Johnny Sexton all the best with the next phase of his career. I remember when Felipe went down injured at Croke Park in 2009, I thought Leinster’s chances of success had been reduced to ashes - it was he who had other ideas. Now I see nothing to make me believe Ian Madigan doesn’t have the potential to do likewise.
ALLEZ LES BLEUS!!! JLP
