O’Driscoll wants a foreign invasion

BRIAN O’DRISCOLL has called for more foreign players to be allowed ply their trade in Ireland claiming it would be benefit the professional game.

At present, the IRFU-controlled Players Advisory Group (PAG) acts as a screening body, so that the provinces are not flooded with overseas talent to the detriment of Irish-born players.

The three-man group has a policy regarding high-profile foreign players which effectively limits the numbers to three per province. They also have a strong aversion to provinces employing more than one non-Irish player in the same position.

Of the three Irish teams involved in the Heineken Cup, Leinster have the greatest international contingent with their nine imports almost double that of Munster who, like Ulster, aren’t even filling the current ‘high-profile’ quota.

The result of the restrictions is a delicate juggling act for the four provinces who are eager to accommodate the greater good on one hand while mindful of their own bottom line — results.

The Irish system in general has been lauded in most quarters in recent years with the national team winning a clutch of Triple Crowns and Munster capturing the Heineken Cup but the wind has changed since the debacle that was the Rugby World Cup.

O’Driscoll doesn’t see the need or the practicality in deconstructing in its entirety a system that has evolved for over a decade but he does see clear advantages in levelling the playing field when it comes to competing with English and French clubs for the signatures of big-name foreign talent.

“I don’t see how structures can change just like that,” said the Leinster centre at yesterday’s launch of the Heineken Cup in Dublin.

“There is probably a way that we can balance it so there is an opportunity to bring more overseas players in so that the younger guys within the squad can learn off them.

“I’m talking about good quality foreigners who the likes of Leicester and a lot of the other English sides have.

“It’s something that we can improve on.”

The IRFU last week announced their intention to commence a review on the national side’s disappointing World Cup performance with team management, officials and players all due to be approached for their views.

Due to take a number of months to compile, it remains to be seen if the report delves as deep as the game’s very structures but O’Driscoll feels that some navel gazing would not go astray in that department.

“The second that you think you have the ideal formula is the moment that you start going downhill. Look at England, they did exactly that after the 2003 World Cup.

“They didn’t work hard enough at it. Granted they still managed to make the World Cup final this time around but it is a mistake that a lot of other countries will learn from.”