Successful provinces fundamental to successful Ireland

The fight for supremacy of Ireland between Munster and Leinster has fed the Ireland team with great players, battled-hardened to compete at top level

ONCE AGAIN the clash is upon us and I don’t refer to the rematch between Old Crescent 3rds and Bruff tomorrow morning. Some 120 miles from Rosbrien, Leinster will entertain Munster. With four in a row under their belts the bookies have very conservatively put Leinster at scratch for what has now become the barometer of the domestic professional game. Why scratch? For understandable reasons the opening weeks have not been kind to Leinster and the Magners League table less so. In the meantime Munster, with key players bedding in, are finding their rhythm.

In Ireland we have many restrictions to success at international level (playing numbers/climate/physique etc) but we consistently compete in the 6 Nations and against Australia and South Africa. As the professional era grew apace the Leinster-Munster fixture has been a key building block to our international success. Put simply, it has forced our players in all provinces to a higher level.

Prof Michael E Porter, based at Harvard Business School, noted competition brought out the best in successful multinational companies. "Porter's Diamond" from his book The Competitive Advantage of Nationscan give us an insight into the tomorrow's benefits.

The value of this derby fixture directly explains why Irish rugby has secured four Heineken Cups, a Grand Slam and many Triple Crowns in the professional era.

BMW and Mercedes have for many years hammered the multinational competition, not because they wanted to better the Japanese or the Americans but because they insisted on beating each other. They achieved such high standards before export through their own competition that on arriving into international waters they were unstoppable. We have already witnessed the value of local competition between Jonny Sexton and Ronan O’Gara, particularly to O’Gara.

Porter’s determining factors start with the God-given stuff where Irish rugby is comparatively weakest of any rugby nation; factor conditions, the material resources, ie the player, the weather and location.

We have small numbers, small frames and poor weather. Consequently the second factor becomes key to surmounting the first negative; related and supported industries. The GAA provides us with a key advantage of footballing skills in our rugby players. Centres of excellence such as UL, through its sports science, is another. The provincial academies and specialised coaching such as around the scrum are relatively new and enormously beneficial.

The home demand conditions from the fans who pay for the product is so high, when combined with competition in the same domestic market for sponsorship etc, it forces our players to perform. Incidentally, the home demand through the Munster club provincial/AIL competition is fundamental to the success of Munster in the early noughties. IRFU, don’t give up on the clubs.

Lastly but most importantly, for tomorrow, remains the “competitive domestic rivalry” that continues to exist between Leinster and Munster, with their constant search for competitive advantage.

For some time the fight for supremacy of Ireland, initially at club level, has fed the Ireland team with great players, battled hardened to compete at 6 Nations level. This fight reached its zenith in the last decade and has been the single most important building block to Ireland’s development.

On losing to Leinster in the 2001 Celtic Cup Munster tuned in to find an answer. After all they were leading the way in Europe but were ambushed by an outstanding 14-man Leinster.

Munster soon figured it out and won two European Cups. Leinster could have languished in the Magners League but wanted more than anything else to surpass their southern colleagues. Ulster, spurred on by them both, have made major steps towards rehabilitation from 1999.

The battle starts each time with the opposite number. More than anything I wanted Sexton to have played last weekend in Scotland to have given the two great Irish outhalves a legitimate shot at each other tomorrow. Sexton should be risked for part of the match but it devalues the battle.

O’Gara is in flying form and the test is perfectly timed for him to shine. He too will be disappointed in not being able to shine against his great rival.

Obviously players of tomorrow’s class and ambition will excel in most environments but they want to be tested by their peers. In the mid-nineties I had the pleasure of togging out for Munster against Leinster. It was a very different game back them (just turned professional – “stay off the red meat, lads” our manager was wont to say) but like any soldiers climbing the trench ladders into the fray, each player could only see their opposite player, with, for instance, the props focused on the scrum, ensuring the importance to the team.

With Porter’s “factor conditions” in mind I feel Munster have the upper hand. Joe Schmidt has an unenviable challenge tomorrow. He is without CJ van der Linde, John Fogarty, Bernard Jackman, Stanley Wright, Malcolm O’Kelly, possibly Sexton, Girvan Dempsey, Michael Cheika, Kurt McQuilkin and, most importantly, Leo Cullen.

Leinster are four games in and are struggling with their game. Their backline against Edinburgh were unsure but it is up front where they need to improve. As discussed previously, the outside centre’s best form of defence is his front five. Edinburgh’s tighthead Geoff Cross scored the classic “George Gregan” offload try around the fringe.

This seven-pointer was unforgivable; fringe defence. Fullback Chris Patterson broke through the heart of Leinster for a 60-metre gallop that led to Mark Robertson’s try out wide; unforgivable front-five defence.

I feel for Schmidt, who is facing a tough October without a settled side. The loss of so many key personnel has affected Leinster hugely. Don’t panic because Munster qualified into the top four with nine losses. Systems take time but hunger can surmount most obstacles. Kilkenny were a la carte where Tipperary were starving.

It’ll be a massive night for the Leinster pack, Mike Ross and Dominic Ryan, but Devon Toner, in particular, must have the game of his life; “Stand up and Fight”

Incidentally New Zealand have all four Porter factors in abundance but have just one world cup.

PS: Having come through a serious neck injury back in 1998 I fully understand the effort Felix Jones has given to his recovery and wish him all the best in his latest test.

• liamtoland@yahoo.com