Safeguard the clubs to net more talent

On RugbyThe problem with Ireland's pyramid structure, from schools, academies, clubs through to provinces and the international team, with the underage structure a supporting block, is it works from the top down and not the bottom up. Furthermore, the pyramid is becoming too disconnected at various points to operate to its maximum potential.

The most obvious and glaring flaw is the role of the clubs. Apparently, there is a feeling amongst one or two key members of the IRFU hierarchy that the schools' system supplies the players which have served the provinces and the international team, and will henceforth to do so in tandem with the provincial academies.

This is patently not true. Let's look at the source of the rejuvenation of Irish rugby since around the turn of the Millennium. Let's be honest about it, it's been down, in the main, to a collection of Munster forwards, along with Munster halves and Leinster backs, David Humphreys, Geordan Murphy and Simon Easterby and, of late, a smattering of younger players, mostly from Ulster.

The conveyor belt from the system has not exactly been chugging along noisily. Little seems to be coming through given the core of the Munster/Ireland pack and Ireland team has largely stayed the same since the 44-22 win over Scotland in 2000. Team Munster provided the platform, but those Munster forwards cut their teeth initially in the AIL with their successful club sides.

Look at the frontrow. Plucked from junior rugby nearby, Marcus Horan cut his teeth at Shannon first and foremost, and if it wasn't for Bruff, and Shannon then developing him, you wonder if John Hayes would have completely slipped through the net. Even Jerry Flannery spent some vital years maintaining and developing his game with Shannon (as well as Connacht).

Donncha O'Callaghan plied his trade with Cork Constitution after being plucked from Highfield and Paul O'Connell cut a swathe through opponents with Young Munster without a professional contract for two or three seasons while his club coach, Matt te Pau, was telling anyone who would listen that he was the best secondrow in the country.

David Wallace had countless big days and campaigns with Garryowen underscoring his achievements with Munster and then Ireland. Even Denis Leamy will tell you that the two years he played with UCC were as instrumental as anything in developing him (ditto Stephen Ferris of his year with Dungannon).

Go through the backs, and the same is true; Peter Stringer and, admittedly more so, Ronan O'Gara with Cork Con, Denis Hickie with St Mary's, Girvan Dempsey at Terenure, Geordan Murphy (Newbridge and Naas to Leicester) and most obviously of all, Shane Horgan, through Boyne RFC and Lansdowne. Even Brian O'Driscoll had a couple of prolific seasons with UCD.

Viewed in the overall scheme of things, Shannon have done more to develop players than any of the elite rugby playing schools or, arguably, the four provincial academies combined. In a country where sports facilities and sports participation at underage are lamentable, the value of rugby in these schools is undoubted - in terms of healthier lifestyles and team bonding.

However, the schools cups have become a money-generating, win-at-all-costs monster and the schools game is such a little fiefdom young players are actively discouraged from having any involvement with their clubs, while the academy coaches can't get near them. Some of the elite schools should be ashamed of the poor number of former players who continue to play the game even two or three years after leaving school; a truer barometer of their worth than any amount of tin pots.

A well-known former Ireland international recently wondered aloud what is the relevance any more of the club game. Aside from the ever-widening gap in standards between the AIL and even the Celtic League, players on the fringes are not encouraged to play for their club sides sufficiently. A watching club dignitary of some repute observed the sight of three professional players on the sidelines who hadn't played for their province the night before yet were selected only as replacements the next day for their club. This is plainly daft. Some players are slipping through the net altogether.

Virtually every fringe player in the provincial set-ups will tell you they'd rather play for their provincial A sides in front of two men and a dog, than for their club side, even if the said club had nurtured him and previous generations before him.

Why? Because it's more relevant. There's that word again.

Nor does the club provide much in the way of a breeding ground for coaches any more than it does for players. The example of Mark McCall is a case in point. Here is a young, indigenous coach whom the IRFU have invested time and money in. He has completed all his IRFU coaches, like several others with seemingly no apparent upward pathway mapped out for them, but Ulster having turned sour, there is nowhere in Ireland for him realistically to turn. His best means of re-launching his coaching career would probably be to move to the English First Division. (As an aside, Jeremy Davidson's move to Castres is assuredly one of the best paths he could have taken rather than continue with Dungannon). Nor have the Ulster clubs been able to provide a ready-made replacement. Hence it looks like Ulster will be looking abroad.

Yet, compared to the schools and the win-at-all-costs chasing of tin pots, there is a greater number of better qualified coaches who are operating in a less pressurised club environment. As it is, players outside the elite schools are never more in danger of slipping the net.

The pyramid is narrowing the pool of players from which the future health of the game will depend.

The schools' game needs to be brought in line with the pyramid and the AIL needs restructuring. The best possible players should be playing in it every week. It seems daft that highly paid, full-time professionals are playing 20 to 25 games a season, while the club schedule is actually longer. The provincial cups and leagues should probably be scrapped to ease the club players' load. Again, they have little or no relevance.

As it is, players outside the elite schools are never more in danger of slipping through the net. The pyramid is narrowing the pool of players from which the future health of the game will depend. The club game needs saving, if it is to be relevant.