LONG READ Injured stars hope for Christmas miracles as URC rivals smell Irish blood in the water

As World Rugby marked a one-year countdown to Australia hosting the 2027 World Cup, a host of Ireland stars were named in their first squads of the season.

Sam Prendergast, Ciarán Frawley, Craig Casey, Robbie Henshaw, Cormac Izuchukwu, Tom Clarkson, Cian Prendergast and Rónan Kelleher will launch into their seasons this weekend. There will be highs, lows, injuries, axings, accolades, analysis sessions, dropped balls and stuffed mauls in between, but all will hope to do enough to make it to the start line Down Under next year.

Two players decidedly out of the spotlight for a significant chunk of those 12 months are key to Ireland’s World Cup cause. Leinster and Ireland captain Caelan Doris will not return until early 2027. The 28-year-old broke his foot at the tail-end of last season – missing summer Test matches for the second year running. Doris had surgery on that busted foot over the summer, and also had a procedure carried out on his knee. There have been complications with his rehabilitation timeline, according to The Irish Times, caused by an infection picked up in that repaired knee. Leinster are sharing around the captaincy until he returns, with Dan Sheehan likeliest to lead Ireland when the Nations Championship re-opens for business in November.

Why Nienaber is the ‘godfather’ of defence

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The other medium-term casualty is Jack Crowley, who was in Lyon this week at the Champions Cup launch. In the past, many clubs would send big-hitters or captains to these events. Lately, reporters, handlers and photographers are dealing with players recently injured, or on the comeback trail. So it was on Wednesday that Crowley was joined in Lyon by fellow crocks, Leinster winger Jordan Larmour and Connacht centre Hugh Gavin.

The Munster fly-half is out of action thanks (or no thanks) to a vascular issue in his leg. It is one that has seen him sidelined since April, and has flummoxed some of the best medics and consultants in Ireland. “Please God that when it comes to Christmas, I’ll be fully fit,” Crowley told the travelling press pack.

With the World Cup moving closer on the horizon, few involved in Irish rugby are taking risks with key talents. The league and cup competitions should only be heating up when they return. How deeply involved their teams are, by then, remains to be seen.

Including that Connacht victory over Leinster at Murrayfield in 2016, the Irish provinces have won eight of the last 11 league titles.

Connacht entered the 2026/27 season with the biggest gust of positivity and giddily high hopes at their back. Mack Hansen was fit again, Frawley and Will Connors had arrived from Leinster, Billy Bohan and Sam Illo returned from the summer as Ireland internationals and Stuart Lancaster was already in talks to extend his coaching contract.

The province marked their season-opener at Dexcom Stadium with a 10-year anniversary bash for their league-winning class of 2015/16. Craig Ronaldson, Jack Carty, Jake Heenan, Ultan Dillane, Niyi Adelokun, George Naoupu and more – V.I.P passes draped around their necks – were cheered onto the pitch by grateful, buoyant fans. The biggest roar was reserved for Pat Lam, who masterminded that Pro12 triumph a decade ago.

“Where’s that 10 years gone?” Ronaldson reflected after a night of recollections and celebration. Those scenes in Galway were another reminder of Ireland’s dominance in a competition now in its’ 26^th season. Including that Connacht victory over Leinster, at Murrayfield in 2016, the provinces have won eight of the last 11 league titles. Stormers threatened to up-end the apple cart when they won the first staging of the new, improved United Rugby Championship, in 2022. Since then, there have been three titles for Irish sides (two for Leinster, one for Munster) and Glasgow’s 2024 win. In total, the Irish provinces have won 16 of 25 league titles.

Last weekend, in the opening round of the URC, three of the provinces kicked off their campaigns at home. Leinster started their season in South Africa, but facing the doughty Lions. In other seasons, this could easily have signalled a green sweep. Instead, the Irish sides went down 0-4. None could crow about deserving to win.

“There will be plenty of questions, and rightfully so,” Ulster coach Richie Murphy admitted after his men fell to Edinburgh in Belfast. “We haven’t delivered.”

“I didn’t feel we’d done enough to win the game, but I felt we’d done enough to get the (losing bonus) point,” was the raft Lancaster clung to after Connacht lost 29-15 to Stormers. Leinster finished with two points after hooker Stephen Smyth got over for an 85^th minute try – his side’s fourth – in a losing effort against Lions that Scott Penny admitted was “annoying” and “disappointing.”

It was left to Munster to prevent all four provinces losing on the opening weekend of the league for the first time since 2009. Ultimately, they let a six-point lead slip in the final quarter and lost 26-20. Reflecting on his team dropping one to Glasgow at a less than half-full Thomond Park, head coach Clayton McMillan said: “After last year, we’ve got a bit of work to do to earn their dollars and cents to come buy tickets and come along and support this team.”

Sides not being able to kick off their seasons, especially in home games, with their big-name players certainly sucks the wind from sails.

Panic buttons are not being slammed just yet. Ulster are off to Glasgow this weekend, Connacht face Benetton in Italy and Munster host a Bulls side that rampaged through Zebre in their opening fixture. Starting off 0-2 will surely attract dark, pessimistic clouds. Leinster are the only side with much credit in the bank, from supporters and media. They recovered from losing their first two games in South Africa last season to power to another league title.

Supporters across the provinces had understandable gripes last week when their teams went into the opening games without their Ireland internationals. Connacht were restricted from using Bohan, Illo and Darragh Murray, who saw a combined 59 minutes of action during the Nations Championship in July. It was a similar case for Ulster, who could not feature Izuchukwu, Tom Stewart, Bryn Ward or Nathan Doak. That quartet played a combined 69 minutes in the summer. Munster could not field Casey or Jeremy Loughman, while Leinster had to keep Clarkson, Prendergast, Henshaw and Kelleher in reserve, until this weekend.

Sides not being able to kick off their seasons, especially in home games, with their big-name players certainly sucks the wind from sails. Supporters on the fence about getting along to cheer on their side may have held onto their money, for later in the season, when they saw such under-strength teams named. The flip-side to the argument is this is now officially a World Cup year. Ireland starters and fringe players need to be managed carefully. It can also be argued that even though the likes of Bohan, Izuchukwu or Loughman did not play much of the Test matches, they were still training and prepping into mid-July. Every player is entitled to a decent physical, and mental, break before gearing up for the new season.

Squad depth is being tested in these early weeks, but the union’s goal is for more home-grown talent to be blooded, and stuck with. Even when the going gets rough.

What jumped out in the opening round of games involving Irish sides was how often they were over-powered. Leinster’s scrum wobbled and wheezed, Edinburgh ran roughshod over Ulster for an hour, Munster gave up 314 post-contact metres to Glasgow and Connacht were straight beaten up by Stormers. The maul is back as an attacking weapon, from anywhere inside the opposition half, and the provinces struggled to stem that tide. Individually, there were some exceptions (Hansen, Josh Ericson and David McCann had fine games) but as a whole, it was a struggle for the Irish outfits.

This, one suspects, is part of the short-term pain the IRFU will hope transitions to long-term gain. Younger players are getting minutes and fringe men are being flung front-and-centre. The IRFU are reticent to bank-roll expensive foreign imports and – as the James Lowe situation highlighted last season – sanction big, outside sums from investors or interested parties. Squad depth is being tested in these early weeks, but the union’s goal is for more home-grown talent to be blooded, and stuck with. Even when the going gets rough.

The storm may soon pass and those wounded in the opening URC weeks will be patched up. Right now, however, rivals of the sides from the league’s most dominant country smell blood in the water.