Rob Henshaw’s father plays an official role in his career

Last Sunday morning in the Shelbourne Hotel a solidly built 21-year-old sidled up to his father.

“I’m gonna have a good one today.”

Tony Henshaw replied with the same advice he's given since Robbie was 10.

“I just told him to play his normal game. And that’s the way he always plays but he did surprise me, surprised us all. A super day. Not great for me heart. To score his first try, which he needed to do, but to do it against England . . .”

Only the rarest of talent remains the same dominant force playing schools cup for Marist Athlone in 2013, when Connacht won down in Toulouse a few months later and now an international level.

Sure why change a thing?

Of course everything is about to change and sooner rather than later, if Leinster or even Munster have their way.

"Robbie is there for the duration of his contract [June 2016] with Connacht ," confirmed IRFU chief executive Philip Browne this week. "I think it is the right thing; he is getting great experience down there . . . He has obviously come on leaps and bounds as a player."

The leaping try, 11 bounding carries and 13 tackles in a single Test match means any hope of keeping him a secret is gone. It’s only a matter of time before English and French vultures start circling.

A national contract will be offered, which could be supplemented, as Jonathan Sexton and Jamie Heaslip’s have been, with private money.

Denis O'Brien, via Topaz, is covering Sexton's imminent return while Damien O'Donohoe's Ikon put Heaslip's deal together with additional sponsorship from Bank of Ireland.

Career-defining choice

So, next, Henshaw must make a career-defining choice: stay out west, go south, head to Dublin or emigrate.

Time to call the sports agent, right?

Wrong.

"It depends what he wants to do himself. We will wait a while, certainly until after the World Cup. "

Tony Henshaw, an engineer by profession, has been smart about his potential limitations at the negotiating table.

“I had been using a very good friend of mine and Robbie’s, Michael Cosgrave.”

Cosgrave, a former director with Aviva, along with a family solicitor in Athlone, ensured all parties were satisfied the last time a deal was signed.

“Cosi would be well suited to that sort of stuff, having been part of negotiation teams for many years. Together we did that last deal in Connacht with Pat Lam. It was good for everyone, both Connacht and Robbie got a decent deal out of it at the time.”

Fathers as agents

The Dad cloaked as a rugby agent is nothing new. Frank O’Driscoll and

Frank Cullen

looked after the recently retired Brian and Leo for most of their careers. Tim McFadden, Dave Kearney snr and recently Mick Madigan have been minding the interests of Fergus, Dave jnr, Rob and Ian.

“Brian O’Driscoll introduced me to his father about a year and a half ago and I talked with him about it all,” said the elder Henshaw.

Commercial deals are also handled within the family. If a third party brings something of interest “they get paid.”

“I don’t want Robbie to be the fella that every time you lift a stone he jumps out from under it. We have a couple of things going on with 3 and Adidas.”

Then there are local endorsements of Audi and Arrabawn dairy.

“Don’t want to snow him out. Keep it to a few things. He is not interested in doing a whole lot.”

Player contract negotiations in Ireland have irrevocably changed since Fintan Drury, through Platinum One, recommended the more lucrative offer from Racing Metro for Sexton’s services in January 2013.

Sexton is no longer represented by Drury and personally conducted his return to Leinster after two years in Paris.

Instead of Maurice Dowling, the IRFU's human resources director, High Performance director David Nucifora is now the point man. Also, clearly, the talking starts much sooner with Munster captain Peter O'Mahony's national contract the only conversation spilling into this season's Six Nations (that three-year deal was done by Conor Ridge of Horizon Sports).

So, genuine progress.

Munster’s JJ Hanrahan will be the only high-profile player leaving this summer as the 22-year-old agreed terms with Northampton primarily in search of increased game-time.

Despite the paltry Academy contract of about €5,000, the general view is that an agent isn’t required until a player has broken into the senior squad (a player can’t be signed until over 18).

“I’ve been saying that for years,” said John Baker, Paul O’Connell’s agent. “I’ve lost five clients in academies because I told five fathers they don’t need an agent. I would go further and say the only time they need an agent is when they are going on a full contract.

“Any agent who takes five per cent for a development contract should be shot.”

But there will be no shootings. Regulation has, finally, arrived. In fact the Irish market, with 58 agents operating in the last four years, has been compared with the “Wild West” (the American frontier not Connacht) by players body Irupa.

“One agent for every three or four players doesn’t make sense,” says Omar Hassanein, Irupa chief executive, who brought in a similar system in Australia.

“It will be in place by June. The accreditation process will automatically weed the numbers down. The barriers to entry, a fee [€500] for example, may put off someone who only has one player. It should mean a tighter group but we are a players group, representing the player’s best interest, so we want as competitive an environment as possible.”

For reasons unknown the IRFU’s regulation 11 cannot be read on their website but it’s largely the same as RFU regulation 8. The Welsh are also on board. The French to do it their own way.

“The RFU’s regulation 8 has changed according to what myself and Declan McPhillips, the IRFU in-house counsel, have changed to make it applicable to the Irish environment,” explained Simon Keogh, Irupa’s head of legal affairs.

“It’s because we have a different system as the IRFU centrally contract players. If there is a discrepancy between a player and a club in England it goes to the RFU. Over here the club is the IRFU so we have to do an external disciplinary process, for which I drafted a set of rules.”

Regulations board

The Irish Agents Regulations board has already appointed three of its four members. The independent chairwoman is Sarah O’Connor, chief executive of the Irish Federation of Sport and a former solicitor with Arthur Cox.

Irupa have nominated Derek Hegarty, another solicitor and former Terenure and Leinster scrumhalf. The agent representative is Ryan Constable, director at Esportif, the worldwide agency that merged with Corner Flag management in 2014.

Constable, an Australian who played centre for Ulster, represents the largest number of rugby players in Ireland. He will be involved in final approval of agents but is excluded from disciplinary matters and amending rules.

Any resistance to this?

“No, not so far,” Keogh continued.

Nobody, not even a lawyer, nor father or mother, is exempt from taking and passing Irupa’s exam.

"It's more an educational process than anything else. The next step is to put it up on the [(IRFU)]website. That's a non -necessity but important because if you are writing about it in The Irish Times people might want to read it but if they have to go to the RFU website. It's not ideal."

Regulations of rugby agents in Ireland

Q and A with Simon Keogh, Irupa head of legal affairs

I want to be a rugby agent – what is the process?

“You come directly to us, Irupa, as the administrators. Apply to do the exam, send in the application fee [€500 the first time], proof of your personal indemnity insurance, a copy of your standard contract and player agency agreement.”

My father is representing me, does he have to go through this process?

“He does. Previously a dad could come in as an adviser to offer support. We don’t want an academy guy going in feeling intimidated talking about money. But as soon as it is a business transaction, as in the parent is taking a fee, whether that fee is being transferred back to the son subsequent to receiving it is irrelevant. He is providing a service so he should be registered.”

The new rules only apply to Ireland, England and Wales, why not Scotland and France?

“We did speak to Scotland about it. They felt they have very few agents who act there. We hope they will come on board eventually. They have a very similar situation to us, centrally contracted for two professional clubs, but they have to get more structure in how they are going to manage it as they don’t have a players association over there. France has very strict regulations in that you have to be French registered and there is a very tough exam process. There are very few English-speaking agents, there are a few, who outside agents have to go through, so they have to split the agent fee. They can get up to 10 per cent but they have to go 50-50.”

A father has his son’s best interest at heart but any down side?

“The big problem I’ve seen with a player using a friend or a friend of the family is they might have a link to a Mick Dawson or a Garrett Fitzgerald but then all of a sudden the player is not getting picked and wants to get a Premiership club. How do I do that? A registered agent will have built a relationship with the UK market.”