New Year, new rules, same old Munster

WHILE the festive period offered many the opportunity to relax and recharge the batteries, for Ireland’s elite rugby players it was a period of intense activity.

If the national squad enjoyed a brief period of team building while warm weather training in Portugal, that goodwill was hardly in evidence during the intense inter-provincial games that dominated the Magners League over the past fortnight. It was a reflection of the changing face of Irish rugby when full houses accompanied Magners League ties in Galway, Limerick, Dublin and Belfast. It was also a period of significant change.

Lansdowne Road finally hosted the last rugby game to be played in the world’s oldest international ground. It was fitting that Leinster and Ulster attracted a capacity attendance of 48,000 given that they competed in the very first inter-provincial in the old ground 130 years earlier.