Move to England proving difficult for some players

LAST week Ireland international number eight Victor Costello parted company with London Irish, packed his bags in London and …

LAST week Ireland international number eight Victor Costello parted company with London Irish, packed his bags in London and returned home to Dublin. He will resume his career with St Mary's College and his alliance with the club coach Ciaran Fitzgerald.

Fitzgerald's influence on Costello's play was immense and was such that Costello won his way on to the Ireland side last season. He looked set for a good tenure in the Ireland side.

His departure to London Irish together with so many other players was deemed to be a good move. Costello, it was argued, was going to play in a league that is of a much higher standard than in the Insurance Corporation All Ireland league. Playing in such exalted company would improve his standard of play, his standard of fitness and impose demands on him that were bound to be beneficial.

But it did not work out that way.

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Costello seemed to settle in well at Sunbury originally and then, as the team began to lose matches and team form declined, so Costello found himself out of the side, something that scarcely enhanced his game, his form, his fitness or his chances of making it into the Ireland team.

The best he could manage was a place on the replacements for the Ireland A team against South Africa in November. In fact because of circumstances the withdrawal of Gabriel Fulcher from the senior side against Western Samoa, played on the night of the A match against the Springboks - Costello was brought on to the senior team bench when Mick Galwey was promoted to the team. In fact Costello came on as a replacement during the match against the Samoans but, like most others, played badly.

That was his last appearance in an Ireland jersey. Not only that, but when the squad to go to the Algarve was selected, Costello a member of the squad was not deemed fit enough to make the journey and was put on a special fitness programme. Ironically exactly the same thing happened to another player who had failed to settle in London, Eddie Halvey.

He went to Saracens during the course of last season, but also tailed to settle and returned to his native Limerick at the end of the season. He rejoined Shannon just as Costello has now rejoined St Mary's College. Shannon had to pay Saracens for Halvey's transfer before he could play for the club in the AIL.

Other players who have gone to England have made the change smoothly enough. But I remain to be convinced that they are better players for it. For instance I would point to the case of Jonathan Bell. He played infinitely better for Ireland when he was playing with Ballymena than he has since he moved to Northampton.

I believe what happened to Halvey and Costello represents an important lesson for other players, young and not so young, who may be thinking of making the move to England. There are many factors to consider, and money should not be the only consideration. Not everyone can settle into a strange environment.

A flat in London can be a lonely base far removed from the much more closely knit community in which players have been in Ireland, both at home and in terms of the life at their clubs. Not everyone can cope with the change. Indeed Costello was surrounded by Ireland team mates at Sunbury and yet, through no fault of his own, he just did not or could not respond to the change.

Nor was Costello helped by what went on in relation to players' release for their provinces to play in the European Cup. Some, such as Neill Woods, opted not play for their provinces, and I do not think that helped his cause either. The best he has managed so far was a place on the Ireland A team against South Africa, since then not even a place on the Ireland A team against France.

Gabriel Fulcher is another whose form has declined and I cannot see any evidence to suggest that a move to English club rugby has done anything for him. He played infinitely better when he was with Cork Constitution than he has done for London Irish.

Let us now delve a little deeper into the alleged benefits players have derived since their move from Irish to English club rugby. David Humphreys has lost his place on the Ireland side. He was the Rugby Writers of Ireland player of the year last season. He had played for over half the season with Oxford University who do not compete in the English League.

Paul Burke, who moved to Bristol from Cork Constitution, displaced Humphreys on the Ireland side, but has now lost out to Eric Elwood, a player who declined a move to Llanelli and stayed with Lansdowne. I have not seen anything in Burke's play this season which suggests he is a better player for his move. And I will say exactly the same about David Corkery, who also moved to Bristol from Cork Constitution.

Richard Wallace is another player who went to England in pursuit of the "big time" and the Ireland A side is the best he can now manage after being dropped following the match against Western Samoa. Henry Hurley is another whose move from Old Wesley to Moseley has scarcely coincided with an elevation in his form. Darragh O'Mahony, Alain Rolland and Martin Ridge are all also playing with Moseley. I don't think that move enhanced their representative prospects.

The Irish rugby players are now like the Ireland soccer players coming together from diverse and various locations to play for their country. That is a huge change for players who operated in a much closer community in the past.

So will Halvey and Costello be the first of the few or the first of the many to make the return trip? There is some very strong evidence to indicate to any player who is thinking of taking the plane to England to play his club rugby, to think long and hard about the move. Too high a price can be paid at times for money. It never was and never will be a guarantee of contentment or an Ireland place either, as we have seen.