Ryan returns but Leinster sweat on fitness of key men ahead of Pro14 final

Having a team of five supposedly elite officials, who between them conspired to ensure almost the minimum possible punishment for a player guilty of an off the ball headbutt into a prone and vulnerable opponent, is not what any watching parent wishes to see.

To have that type of incident regarded as ‘low entry’, with no apparent - or at least publically facing reprimand for the officials who so badly let down a vulnerable player, frankly speaks volumes.

When the inevitable CTE related court adjudication comes - and it is a question of ‘when’, rather than ‘if’. The weak Governance we see reflected in moments like this will be pivotal in deciding whether the sport as a whole survives it.

He had his chance and Razor finally lost patience with his wild inconsistency and promoted Beauden Barrett as starting 10.

That being said, as Barrett is 33, Mo’unga is ineligible, and none of the young 10s will be test ready, DMac will start the France tests in July by default. Hopefully DMac plays like he did against Ireland (outstanding) and not like he played against Argentina in Test 1 and Australia in Test 1 (terrible).

There has been a university brain drain for many decades (at least since the 90s) so I'm not sure if overly relevant. Most talented youth players are identified at school and then provided a development contract with Ulster which requires them to stay in Ireland. I don't know of any young players who left to go to university and then were awarded professional rugby contacts to an English/Scottish team.

There is a rot in provincial rugby for years… just look at the number of players from Munster and Connacht as well as Ulster. It's a significant failure, one that requires robust action rather than mere fine tuning.