Ireland’s call takes toll on Leinster

As it stands, the provinces enjoy limited access to those players who are regular members of Joe Schmidt’s squad and, though this has been the case for some time now, calls for more flexibility have been louder this year.

Leinster coach Matt O’Connor, whose team is fifth in the Pro12 league with three games left and thus battling to reach the league play-offs, reiterated yesterday that he has had access to some of his top players for just 30% of the competition’s games.

That is borne out in the figures across the four provinces.