Irish heart even more crucial to provinces in Champions Cup, says Shane Horgan
On Sunday, they face a Bath side that has added Welsh out-half Rhys Priestland and Fijian scrum-half Nikola Matawalu to their ranks. Wasps haven’t done badly either, having signed Australian flanker George Smith and New Zealand full-back/wing Charles Piatau.
And then there is Toulon. Ma’a Nonu, Quade Cooper, Paul O’Connell. That list stretches much further, but the gist is clear. A competition renowned for small margins has just seen them reduced to minuscule proportions.
Leinster recruited, too, repatriating Jonathan Sexton and persuading Isa Nacewa back from retirement, but those captures merely confirm the fact that the provinces are increasingly having to focus inwards in order to stay competitive in Europe.
“That’s something Irish teams will have to continue to deal with and they are aware of those limiting factors,” said Shane Horgan, “but if you look at the success of the Irish provinces in the last 10 years, then the core of those teams, whether Ulster, Leinster or Munster, were Irish players.
“Yes, they were always supplemented by some very important overseas signings, but the most important thing has always been about having good Irish players staying at home and getting the most of their own players and that is the challenges facing the provincial coaches.”
Leinster’s latest squad backs that up. Of the 13 additions to their senior group this season, nine were either promoted from the academy or the AIL, while Mick Kearney is a former Leinster youth. Sexton and Nacewa continued that ‘homegrown’ theme, which left Kiwi Hayden Triggs as the only ‘newcomer’.
Their European pool may amount to a steep climb right now, but if any of the provinces can hope to crest the European summit in the medium to long-term, then it should be Leinster with their greater resources, both financial and demographic.
Head coach Leo Cullen remarked this week how they had already used 50 players in their opening eight Pro12 gamesbecause of the absence of up to 20 internationals at the World Cup, so valuable time has been banked by a cohort of up-and-coming talent.
Garry Ringrose has bagged five starts at centre and Ross Molony four and a run off the bench at lock, where Leinster badly need some fresh blood, while James Tracey stood out on his first start, against Scarlets last Friday, at hooker.
In all, 15 relative ‘newbies’ have been exposed to a consistently higher standard and that doesn’t include the likes of Jack Conan or Luke McGrath who have been about the coal face longer, but haven’t had so many opportunities to get their hands dirty.
“I’m massively confident in all the guys who have had an opportunity so far,” said assistant coach Girvan Dempsey.
“It’s that World Cup window that comes up every four years when a lot of the fringe and academy players get an opportunity with the first team.
“All the coaches have been very pleased in how they have handled it and how they’ve stepped up to that level, constantly trying to help them through it and work on parts of their game, but moving into Europe is a different challenge.
“But, if you look at any of them, you’d be more than confident in them if they were selected that they would be more than capable of doing a job. They’ve got a lot of experience through the Pro12 in the last couple of weeks.”
Dempsey knows their capabilities better than most, having served as academy chief prior to his elevation alongside Cullen during the summer, and two British and Irish Cup titles and two semi-finals in the last four years give reason for optimism.
The reintegration of the senior internationals this last fortnight has resulted in a drop off in the visibility of the younger brigade, but their input will spike again as the province attempts to stay relevant in Europe while atoning for last season’s failure to make the Pro12 play-offs.
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