New rules could pave way back to provinces for Irish coaches
The powers that be will therefore be seething that 2012 has started on a negative with the provinces up in arms over hasty announcement of new contract policy before Christmas.
Having covered the nuts and bolts of the policy and its potential shortcomings last Wednesday, I have no desire to revisit that again but it is clear, especially by the comments from Leinster’s Joe Schmidt and Guy Easterby and, to a lesser extent, from Ulster coach Brian McLaughlin that the provinces are not happy. For once Munster have held their counsel and are yet to put their head above the parapet on the issue. It is unusual for the constituent bodies to be openly critical but Leinster and Schmidt in particular are in a position of strength as Heineken Cup champions and current table-toppers in the RaboDirect Pro12.
