Joe Schmidt and IRFU deny keeping grip on ‘front-line’ players

Joe Schmidt and the IRFU have come out fighting in the debate over the availability of international players to the provinces by defending the player management system and challenging current perceptions over their grip on front-line stars.

The matter has come to a head in recent weeks given Leinster’s struggles in seeking a play-off spot in the PRO12, with coach Matt O’Connor claiming that their results in the league have been directly affected by a lack of access to some of their top men.

Schmidt and IRFU Performance Director David Nucifora duly called a briefing with the national media and, while they spoke about the mutual benefits of the management system, there was no suggestion that they believed Leinster were being victimised.

Rumours that top Irish players are limited to eight PRO12 appearances per season were refuted. So was the suggestion that Leinster were faced with the option of playing some big names either against the Dragons two weeks ago or against Ulster tonight.

Some sympathy was forthcoming from Schmidt for O’Connor who has been battling on two fronts in a season where the European window has been truncated, but there was no willingness to accept any responsibility for the province’s struggles.

Schmidt at one point made the assertion that Leinster’s points haul in the past three Six Nations windows had read 20-19-9 and added that the international experience available during those periods had been more or less identical. The inference was clear.

“I have been on both sides of it and I know that there are always frustrations if you don’t feel that you have a free hand,” said Schmidt who was Leinster coach for three seasons. “The one thing I would say about the evolution of the system is that it’s a lot freer than it used to be.”

The Kiwi pointed out that players are no longer eased gradually back in after their pre-seasons, as was the case before when Brian O’Driscoll, for example, was allowed play for 40 minutes, then 60 and so on.

Schmidt also highlighted that Ireland were forced to call on six Leinster U19s to fill the quota required for training the Friday before this year’s Six Nations meeting with England as several fringe squad members had been released to their provinces.

Nucifora had earlier pointing out that the Irish system is the “envy” of other rugby nations and that it had contributed to the successes in recent of years of the provinces as well as the national team.

The Australian also claimed that the management system has added years to careers in a nation where the player pool is significantly smaller.

He also went on to counter what he termed as some inaccuracies reported recently, most notably O’Connor’s assertion that Leinster had some internationals available for only 30% of PRO12 games.

This, he said, was a figure that included injuries, non-selection and those games affected by the player management system and Test games. Injuries alone, he pointed out, accounted for 20 Leinster players missing a combined 139 games for their province this season.

“That puts it, from our point of view, into a slightly different light to what has been put out there,” he suggested before adding that a more accurate ratio of games where those players were and were not available o the provinces was 60:40.

The next chapter in this little saga could come as soon as tonight when O’Connor speaks to the media after Leinster’s assignment in Ulster.