IRFU must be ready for potential player drain

IT IS only a matter of time before one of our high profile younger players takes flight and the danger then is that it might encourage others to do likewise.

The fact that the O’Gara’s, O’Driscoll’s and O’Connell’s of Irish rugby choose the stay at home during the noughties made it fashionable for others to stay.

That will change and Leinster could well be the first to suffer.

Flying high at present with a potent mix of proven and experienced internationals and the exuberance of some outstanding youthful talent, Leinster could fast become a victim of their own success.

Already Jamie Heaslip, Rob Kearney and Jonny Sexton have courted interest from France where average budgets of €16m are commonplace but where highprofile club owners like Mourad Boudjellial in Toulon, Max Guazzini in Stade Francais and Jacky Lorenzetti in Racing Metro are prepared to offer mega bucks to attract the best talent.

The difference with this generation and the likes of Heaslip, Kearney, Sexton, Keith Earls and Luke Fitzgerald is that they have already tasted a mixture of individual and team success with Lions tours, Heineken Cups, Grand Slams and Magners Leagues.

The problem is their contracts are due to expire in and around the time of one of their remaining goals – playing in a World Cup. That ambition will be satisfied by this time next year.

Question is, will the IRFU have the financial will to keep them in the country after sustaining heavy losses in November in the fallout from the ticketing fiasco – up to €4m – or will they be happy to see some of our prized assets play abroad and consequently save on salaries given that they should all still be available for international rugby.

Unlike our politicians and financial experts, we should learn from the mistakes of the past when professionalism heralded the flight of wild geese back in 1996. It took five years to reverse the damage done on that occasion. Our provinces need their star players at home.

So far the IRFU have stepped up to the mark in offering contracts to O’Gara and Donncha O’Callaghan.

With due respects to those two, they were probably negotiating their last professional contract and the desire to move elsewhere at this stage of their careers and forego the attraction of the government tax rebate, made it an easier decision for all concerned. Heaslip and the others are a different kettle of fish however and may take more convincing.