Wednesday, June 02, 2010
NOW that the silverware has been distributed for a variety of tournaments all over Europe a period of quiet reflection and planning will commence for next season.
Not that the international playing contingent will be able to look that far ahead just yet with Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales and France all embarking on demanding tours over the next three weeks.
For some, the journey will be more pleasant than others. Certainly the sizeable Clermont Auvergne contingent in the French squad heading to South Africa will do so with a major millstone finally banished. After over a century chasing a dream and having lost 10 French championship finals, including two in the last three years, they finally reached the Promised Land at the Stade de France.
The relief and raw emotion so evident at the final whistle after beating their conquerors of last season Perpignan 19-6 made Munster’s maiden Heineken Cup celebrations in 2006 look tame by comparison. The reaction from players, management and their sizeable following demonstrated forcibly even professional sport is about far more than money.
The Bouclier de Brennus, the most sought after piece of timber in French rugby, was the elephant in the room in Clermont for a long time and has stifled their ambition in Europe as a result. With that cherished prize delivered, they are the one French side I would not want in my Heineken Cup pool next season.
The Guinness Premiership final was a magnificent contest with Leicester Tigers, led by Geordan Murphy, grabbing the trophy from Saracens with a last-minute try from Dan Hipkiss. That’s what makes Leicester great. They refuse to be beaten.
The inaugural Magners League Grand Final also delivered a cracking contest, the highly-talented Ospreys finally coming of age in Dublin of all places. It was always going to be a difficult assignment for Leinster with so many sideshows going on in terms of coaches and players either retiring or seeking pastures new. As a result Leinster never scaled the heights they reached against Munster in the semi-final and this game looked beyond them even by half-time.
That said new Leinster coach Joe Schmidt is inheriting a very impressive squad from Michael Cheika and, buoyed by his personal triumph as part of the Clermont management team that finally delivered last Saturday, will decamp to the RDS in a very positive frame of mind.
While it has been a very disappointing season at provincial and national level for Ireland it was always going to be difficult to replicate the clean sweep of trophies that found their way here last season. These have been unprecedented times in Irish rugby and while there is still frustration, despite the fact three of our provinces reached the semi-finals of their European competitions, and that Ireland only finished runners up in the Six Nations Championship, then it shows how far we have come in recent times.
Of more concern to me would be the rumblings off the field with talk of sizeable reductions in player contracts, uncertainty about the budgeted income for the IRFU due to potential changes in the TV revenue streams as proposed by the Minister for Communications, and the necessity to service the debt on the recently completed Aviva Stadium.
There has been a lot of stability in the game here over the last few years with all of the top stars opting to stay and ply their trade at home. With many of our younger population now forced down the same road as previous generations in seeking employment abroad, I fear some of our bright young rugby talent will have no hesitation in doing likewise should circumstances change here.
The fact so many of our bright young talent have achieved so much at such a young age – Keith Earls, Luke Fitzgerald, Jamie Heaslip and Rob Kearney for example have already won a Heineken Cup, a Grand Slam and played for the Lions – would suggest they could be willing to explore new challenges at some stage in the future as opposed to the previous generation of Brian O’Driscoll, Gordon D’Arcy, Denis Hickie, Ronan O’Gara and Paul O’Connell who all stayed at home to chase a dream.
That could have dramatic consequences for our teams in Europe. The national side will not be as exposed as players will always retain the desire to play international rugby. It will, however, have consequences for the manner in which the national management can plan and prepare for the major international tournaments.
All of that is in the future. Of more immediate interest is the draw for the Heineken Cup pool stages in Cardiff next Tuesday. With the four tiers now in place and new French entrants RC Toulon and Racing-Metro 92 on board for the first time in the Heineken Cup and therefore seeded in Tier 4, a cursory glance at the seeding suggests there will be some really tough pools to get out of come January 2011.
While the three Irish qualifiers cannot be drawn together in the same pool, the only certainty for Munster and Leinster at this stage is that they cannot meet fellow tier 1 teams, the holders Toulouse, Guinness Premiership champions Leicester Tigers, Amlin Challenge Cup winners Cardiff Blues and this year’s beaten finalists Biarritz. After that anything could happen.
As the six pools will be made up of a team from each of the four tiers with a restriction where possible that teams from the same country avoid each other (there will be two French sides in one of the pools) the most interesting aspect of the draw will come when the tier 4 teams are selected.
Traditionally the Italian sides, who have never been ranked above tier 4, are always on the wish list of everyone. Hopefully their inclusion in the Magners League from next season onwards will help to make them more competitive in time.
This year three pools will face the nightmare scenario of drawing either Castres, who topped the French championship for long periods this year, Toulon, who made the semi-finals of the French championship and the Amlin challenge Cup final, or Racing Metro 93, whose stated ambition is to surpass Stade Francais as the main Parisian side within the next few seasons, as the fourth ranked side in their pool.
Racing are already on track to usurp Stade, who have failed to make the Heineken Cup next season. By way of intent they have also followed up last year’s big signings of Sebastian Chabal, Lionel Nallet and Frans Steyn by luring Argentine genius Juan Martin Hernandez back to Paris from the Natal Sharks.
Therefore, instead of getting Benetton Treviso or Aironi Rugby (formerly Viadana) as the fourth best side in your pool, you could end up with one of those three. There is a possibility therefore that either Munster or Leinster, despite being ranked first and third, could end up in a pool with newly-crowned French champions Clermont Auvergne, Guinness Premiership finalists Saracens and one of Toulon, Racing or Castres. All will be revealed next Tuesday.
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