'I’m severely worried': Ex-players sound alarm over looming Irish crisis

Former internationals Bernard Jackman and Donal Lenihan have raised grave concerns over the production line in Ireland.

The 36-14 loss to France in the opening round of the Guinness Six Nations on Thursday was the first of a triumvirate of disasters for Irish rugby over the weekend, with an Ireland XV losing 52-14 to England A on Friday at Thomond Park and Ireland U20 losing 50-21 to France U20 on Saturday.

Speaking after the weekend’s results on RTÉ Sport, former hooker Jackman and former captain Lenihan raised their worries about the lack of high-quality players coming through the Irish system compared to their rivals.

Jackman highlighted how Andy Farrell’s side has been “cornerstoned” by players that came through the academy system a while ago, as well as five players from outside the system – Bundee Aki, James Lowe, Mack Hansen, Jamison Gibson-Park and Finlay Bealham. However, the high-class players coming through have dried up.

Lenihan pointed the finger at his former side Munster, and the next generation of players coming through at the province, saying he is “severely worried”.

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The pair highlighted how both England and France have taken over Ireland in terms of their development programmes, with Lenihan lamenting that “a few years ago we had competitive advantages, everyone was coming to Ireland to see what the IRFU are doing.”

“The production line has slowed to nearly a drizzle at the moment,” Jackman said. “Last year’s [U20] team, unfortunately, won the wooden spoon. This year’s team doesn’t look to be a vintage side — maybe a little bit better — so what has happened, and what’s been done to try to improve and increase our player pool? Nothing.

“What’s been done to create an AIL 1A, 1B, or a combination that’s going to give players better exposure? I just haven’t seen anything. I’ve seen no change.

“I actually see now that private schools in Dublin, in Leinster, are disenfranchised with the Leinster system. Disenfranchised — the most productive pool we have. I think we have to grow that, but don’t crap on that it. Have trust and respect for what’s there.

“It’s creaking, and I think David Humphreys has a huge job on his hands to try and fix this. We need to review our pathway because we’re not producing enough players for Andy Farrell at the moment. We saw the A game the other night — there aren’t a million players out there. There aren’t even 10 players who can play international rugby.

“If you picked the best 20 under 25s in Ireland, eight of them are four brothers – so the Prendergasts, the McCarthys, the Edogbos and the Wards. So I would say there’s genetics or parental influence on that.

“Where are the rough diamonds in our system? Are we finding them, are we polishing them? We have to. We have to do better than France and England – they have got their act together. There are a lot of loose ends in our system, and I’d love to see someone address them.”

Lenihan added: “Leinster produced, I think, 14 of the forwards that were involved with Ireland last Thursday. Finlay Bealham was the only one that didn’t come through the Leinster system. The schools are so well organised here that it’s almost where Leinster are able to cherry-pick the best of them coming out.

“I flip it down to Munster then, and I’m severely worried about where the next generation of Munster players are coming from. You go back to when Ireland won the Grand Slam in 2009, six of the starting pack were from Munster, but they’re just not coming through.

“I do think there are a lot of fellows in the system, even who were on academy contracts or development contracts, that I can see now won’t be good enough for the professional game.

“Are we producing fellows to backfill squads who will play in the URC, or are we focusing on bringing players through who are good enough to play for Ireland?

“I sat down and watched the A team and said, ‘Right, let’s see now.’ There wasn’t one player, if you’re Andy Farrell sitting in the stand last Friday night at Thomond Park, that you’d have to say made a case for themselves to be picked for Italy.”