Ulster deserve to start

There was a time when the vagaries of a winter day might have kept an interpro crowd down to the proverbial two men and a dog. But on the first Saturday of August in the peak of the summer holidays even the dog might be inclined to opt for the beach.

The onset of the World Cup in October and Ireland's sequence of warm-up matches ensures an earlier start than ever to the Guinness Interprovincials. However, traditions die hard in this country and there are unlikely to be the kind of crowds which last October witnessed Munster's obliteration of Leinster in the decisive game.

Today's openers provide a repeat of those games, albeit in Galway and Cork on this occasion, as Connacht entertain Ulster at the Sportsground (3.00) and Munster pay host to Leinster at Temple Hill (6.30).

Some of the old amateur ways die hard too. Few form guides remain before the first international squad is selected, and about 10 days ago the Irish coach Warren Gatland made a not unreasonable request to amend the kick-offs slightly so that he and his assistant coach could see both games. Too short notice. It was rebuffed.

Apparently the kick-offs were cast in stone; Munster being wary of fading light (honestly), Leinster not wanting to defer their journey home by another half-hour (true too) and Connacht not wanting to upset their pre-match dinner (no kidding). As if venues and kick-offs have never been changed on the week of a game before? This being 1999 and the professional age, it really does make you wonder.

Invariably, some will also wonder about the wisdom of starting the season so early when nobody else in the northern hemisphere is doing so. Then again, the southern hemisphere heavyweights are limbering up for the World Cup with that minor little squabble called the Tri-Nations.

In the most congested season ever, there might have been an argument for reverting to three rather than six rounds in the interpros. But that doesn't make for a true test (Munster were bottom of the pile at the half-way point last season), aside from which the international and provincial teams are the paymasters now, and so if something's gotta give, it's got to be the clubs.

By popular consent, the advent of the home-and-away series was a big success and put some meat on an event that had been skeletal. The Super 12 style scoring system (in place again) also surely contributed to an increase in the average of tries per game from 2.5 two years ago (when the games were strangled by the referees) to 4.25 last year. Fitness levels, professional habits and full-time contracts increase by the year, added to which any competition that boasts the arrival of internationals Wood, O'Kelly and O'Cuinneagain to name three has to be the better for it.

The onset of the World Cup ought also to ensure that fitness levels are sharp this year. Undoubtedly the stakes are acutely high for many players individually. In recent years, Connacht have been consistently more competitive than ever, while there's been little or nothing to choose between the other three. In the white corner, the European champions Ulster have recruited well and are entitled to be favourites to regain the crown that was theirs for a decade but hasn't been since 1994-95. In the red corner, the champions Munster probably remain the barometer, although the loss of key players such as Rhys Ellison and Eddie Halvey creates a doubt, if potentially offset by the arrival of Keith Wood, John Langford and Mike Mullins.

In the blue corner, on the basis of the cyclical divvy-up between Munster and Leinster, it is now the latter's turn again to repeat the triumphs of two and four year ago, although this potentially exciting young Leinster team are something of an unknown quantity. Connacht, also much-changed and unknown, remain the outsiders, almost certain to at least claim a few scalps again.