Will Jones and Murray prove World Cup bolters?

REGRETS, thrills, spills, celebration and contemplation, so much to occupy the minds of players and coaches over the course of the next few weeks as they take a step back from the unrelenting grind of professional rugby and consider the possibilities for next season.

Leinster are undoubtedly team of the season, playing some wonderful rugby against even the best of opposition on their way to regaining the Heineken Cup. They had to do things the hard way with all their opposition in Europe residing at the business end of the Aviva Premiership or the French Top 14 championship.

Only last Saturday Saracens, who Leinster disposed of home and away with consummate ease in the pool stages, beat Leicester in the Aviva Premiership final, a notable coup for former Ulster coach Mark McCall who took over the reigns at the English club from the colourful Brendan Venter half way through the season. With Conor O’Shea also capturing silverware at Harlequins, it is great to see young Irish coaches proving their credentials overseas. Both men have much to offer Irish rugby in the future.

Leinster have set the bar now for the rest of the Irish provinces and have the potential to get even stronger with an endless supply of very talented schools players, an ever-expanding support base, strong corporate backing and ambitious ground development plans for the RDS. Having the facility of moving a couple of select games every season to the Aviva Stadium also has the capacity to generate further precious revenue.

Their task now is to become the only side since Leicester Tigers under the captaincy of Martin Johnson in 2001 and 2002 to deliver back-to-back Heineken Cups. Leinster have the squad to do it but will need a kind draw in the pool stages as Joe Schmidt will have little time to re-integrate his World Cup squad players before the Heineken Cup starts up again only a few weeks after the RWC final.

In Sean O’Brien, Leinster have discovered a real gem and a player who could ignite Ireland’s prospects at the World Cup. He has been immense in every way this season and his impact — remember, he only started one of the four autumn internationals last November, along with Mike Ross, who started none — will be central to Ireland’s well-being in New Zealand.

It has been a difficult season for Munster in many ways but it was inevitable they would fail to make the knockout stages of the Heineken Cup at some stage. It is highly unlikely any side will ever match their achievement of reaching 12 consecutive quarter-finals. While some of the Munster faithful may find it hard to accept, I think their failure to progress this season may be a blessing in disguise.

Had Munster been preparing for a Heineken Cup quarter-final in April, it is unlikely players like Felix Jones, Danny Barnes, Conor Murray, Stephen Archer, Mike Sherry, Ian Nagle, Tommy O’Donnell and Simon Zebo would have accumulated as much game time as they did over the last three months.

To win the Magners League grand final with Jones, Barnes and Murray starting in the back-line points the way to the future. As it is, Munster will have to negotiate the early rounds of next season’s Magners League without as many as 12 players who could be on World Cup duty with Ireland.

The confidence and exposure garnered by the next generation over the last few months will stand to them next September. To complement the next stage in the development of these young players, the Munster brains trust must invest wisely in some experienced overseas talent in midfield and in the back row. Tony McGahan will be watching the World Cup with a forensic eye as some of the game’s best exponents will be seeking pastures new after that tournament. Munster’s reputation on foreign fields will be a bonus in that context.

While the likes of McGahan, Joe Schmidt, Eric Elwood and Brian McLaughlin will enjoy downing tools over the next few weeks, Declan Kidney faces an anxious period. On June 21, he announces a preliminary panel of 50 players for New Zealand but thereafter his task gets more difficult.

Included in that group will be a number of players who have had very little game time in recent months and whose availability for the World Cup will come down to the medical and strength and conditioning teams within the Irish set-up.

Long-term injury victims Jerry Flannery, Stephen Ferris and Geordan Murphy will all make a bold bid to make the final 30 that Kidney will announce on August 22 while Rob Kearney and Tomás O’Leary are also badly in need of game time to further claims for inclusion. In addition, Tony Buckley, Andrew Trimble and Paddy Wallace are all recovering from various ailments and have played little or no rugby in recent times while Paul O’Connell will feel like his season is just starting but frustratingly will have to wait until August 6 when Ireland take on Scotland at Murrayfield to accumulate some more badly needed game time.

That is a serious concern, as every player who gets on that plane to New Zealand need to be 100% fit and ready for battle. The crucial pool game against Australia is Ireland’s second fixture in the tournament so they have to hit the ground running. It will be interesting to see if the impressive late run of form displayed by Felix Jones and Conor Murray will have any impact on selection but they will surely make that preliminary squad. After that they will participate in the Irish squad sessions in July and that will enable the Irish management to run the rule over them in more detail.

The one thing Kidney will be thrilled about is that both Munster and Leinster have ended the season on a high, capturing the two trophies available to them. Those successes, coupled with the outstanding victory over England that helped to sign off a difficult Six Nations campaign on a high, will add massively to the feelgood factor within the group when they assemble at the end of the month. The players from Connacht and Ulster will also have reason to smile which should help to set the tone for what one hopes will be a long overdue successful RWC campaign for Ireland.

Before then, one announcement of note which will be of interest to all rugby fans. The draw for the six pools for next season’s Heineken cup takes place next Tuesday in Twickenham. Given the horrendously difficult pools Leinster and Munster found themselves in this season, they will be hoping for a kinder return this time out. Rugby fans in the west are also sure to follow that announcement with a sense of pride and anticipation.