Guest Blogger: A problem within Irish Rugby

Our guest blogger Rugby Scribbler takes a look at the issue within Irish rugby in wake of Ruan Pienaar's departure from Ulster

Is it beneficial for Irish Rugby when players such as Ruan Pienaar are moved on?

News broke this weekend that following the conclusion of this season, legendary Ulsterman and Springbok Ruan Pienaar is to move on from the Belfast based club.

As to where he's going? Nobody is quite sure yet. The news broke as the IRFU told Ulster that they could not keep Pienaar, as he was blocking the pathway for youth development players. This is called their succession policy and is designed to continuously develop quality players to represent Ireland.

Pienaar has since qualified that Ulster “did everything it could to keep me”, but they were not successful in keeping the South African at Ravenshill.

The expectation now is that Pienaar's talents will be bought by either a French or English club. At 32 years of age, many thought he would see his career out in Ulster. However, now that that is not possible, although many Pro12 clubs may be interested, the financial muscle of the Premiership and Top 14 may well prove too tempting for Pienaar.

This is not the first time something like this has happened.

A similar thing happened last year at Connacht. Dublin born USA international, AJ MacGinty, was forced to leave Galway, moving to Sale Sharks in the Aviva Premiership. After pulling the strings that ultimately unlocked the Pro12 door for the perennial underdogs, he was told by the IRFU he had to go, as he was not Irish qualified.

This topic can be divisive. It certainly is important to develop home-grown talent. Ireland compete in the Six Nations against some quality sides and when both England and France can boast two tiers of top class teams to select players from, it is important that Ireland utilise their four provinces to maximise their chances of winning the title.

Is moving players on the best way?

This is in many was a successful scheme. Over the years some rugby greats have come through the ranks in Ireland and made a huge impact internationally and for their clubs. Hardly anyone would question the talent of Brian O'Driscoll or Paul O'Connell. Even now promising young players like Garry Ringrose and Stuart McCloskey are bursting onto the scene with real optimism surrounding their futures.

But what for the club game and for the Pro12? The Pro12 is at present the financially weaker league in Europe, pulling in substantially less than the other leagues in terms of broadcasting revenue. Losing players with the quality Pienaar possesses is a huge loss for the league.

The biggest losers here are the clubs.

Connacht were on the end of a drubbing at the weekend. A 5-41 loss to Glasgow Warriors, their biggest loss on home soil since 2002. That's not solely down to AJ MacGinty's absence. Since last season they have lost a number of key names, whilst also only playing one pre-season fixture, a narrow defeat to Montpellier three weeks ago. None of this helped them against a Glasgow side, hell-bent on revenge following a semi-final defeat in Galway last time out.

Jack Carty didn't play badly, but you felt that the loss of MacGinty and others such as Aly Muldowney really hurt the men in green. That's a combination of IRFU rules and normal transfers that have led to the loss of these players.

Contrast that with Ulster, 29-8 victors against Newport Gwent Dragons last weekend. In that game Pienaar made 116 passes, scored 9 points, including a try and two conversions, whilst also assisting in another. He was awarded man of the match for his efforts. Ulster will miss him.

Clearly then, these guys have an impact at club level. But is them leaving actually going to help the young guns of Irish rugby?

There's a good argument to say yes- taking away the regular starters, who can't play for Ireland, gives the young guys an opportunity. It gives them more game time to practice, improve and gel with the squad. All good stuff.

But does that outweigh the benefits of learning off of someone with the experience and class of Pienaar or pushing to try and muscle your way past AJ MacGinty to get the Connacht fly-half shirt?

Personally, I'm inclined to say no. If players are getting no time whatsoever, it can make sense for a move. For example, Duncan Weir moved to Edinburgh from Glasgow, as he was behind Finn Russell in the Glasgow pecking order. Now, Scotland's two choice fly-halves are getting regular game time, everyone's happy. That's different circumstances, but the idea is the same- giving guys as much game time as possible, to push for improvement on an international level.

It's a similar situation with Ian Madigan, spending his life as second choice to Jonny Sexton at Leinster. It was only a matter of time before he would move on. He's now looking sharper than ever at new club, Bordeaux.   

I feel that in some cases, you need to keep the marquee players. With Irish sides falling behind in Europe and the Pro12 often accused of lacking quality, having a system that removes quality from a clubs ranks is quite simply baffling. In my eyes, to create quality players, the young guns have to prove themselves against the best, to become the best. Handing them the jersey gives them an easy route.

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