Provincial glory reliant on strong clubs

WITH the pain of the Heineken Cup semi-final defeats slowly evaporating, preparations will already be under way for another assault on European competition next season. The fact it is a World Cup year will serve to shift the focus from the provincial sides in the first half of next season, yet when that concludes in late November, the Heineken Cup will once again become the main priority for the Irish provincial sides.

Having highlighted concerns in this column recently with regard to the future of many of our contracted players post-World Cup, the spotlight has now shifted worryingly to those occupying the positions directly below the international squad.

Events of the past few weeks indicate an alarming trend in the departure of quality provincial squad members. Ulster duo Justin Fitzpatrick and Mark Blair have decided to follow the route taken by Trevor Brennan last season and head for more lucrative pastures in France. While I can understand such players in their late 20s opting to maximise their earning capacity abroad, it is a very worrying trend to see some of our best young talent exercising the same option. Connacht has seen the departure of two of the country’s most promising young players, with Gavin Duffy set to join Harlequins and Johnny O’Connor moving to Wasps; and this was followed up last week with the announcement that Munster’s Mick O Driscoll is off to Perpignan.