HARRY BYRNE’S LOAN move in Bristol is a fascinating case study for Irish rugby.
This kind of short-term adventure abroad hasn’t been part of the IRFU’s plan up until this point. Even loan moves within Ireland are rare.
But there has always been an argument for exploring this kind of deal. One of the challenges for Irish rugby is to ensure that the ever-growing number of talented young players emerging have the chance to actually play games.
The schools and youths systems are delivering promising youngsters who go through the Ireland U20s finishing school into the pro game but can then find themselves having to wait patiently for chances in their provinces, particularly Leinster.
Byrne’s case is different, of course. He’s 25, has four Ireland caps, and had his best season with Leinster in 2023/24 only for circumstances to change quickly.
Byrne found himself the fourth-choice out-half in Leinster and had played only 52 minutes off the bench this season. Bristol badly needed an out-half due to injuries and Byrne badly needed games.
Still, if things go well for Byrne and Irish rugby benefits by him kicking on with his career, there would surely be far more interest from IRFU performance director David Humphreys and the provinces in this type of deal.
Having had just one training session with his new club, Byrne made his debut off the bench for Bristol in their Premiership defeat to Saracens last weekend and will hope to have a big impact for Pat Lam’s side during his three-month loan spell.
Byrne’s first touch of the ball in his 36-minute outing was a good restart that hung in the air for more than four seconds, allowing Bristol to chase hard.
Saracens lock Maro Itoje was penalised for obstruction ahead of Elliot Daly as he fielded Byrne’s kick.
Byrne’s first pass in Bristol colours was intercepted as he looked to throw a bridge pass over the edge of the Sarries defence.
Byrne has a relentless desire to stretch defences with his passing game, making him an ideal fit for Bristol’s all-out attacking approach.
In the instance above, he nearly clears Saracens scrum-half Ivan van Zyl to send Bristol into space but the Sarries man leaps to pick him off.
There were a couple of other frustrations for Byrne with his passing but generally, he found his groove and began to direct Bristol’s attack confidently with passes like the one below.
Byrne nailed his first kick at goal for Bristol in the 63rd minute, an excellent conversion from the left-hand five-metre line.
He was also on target from a more central position with his second conversion.
But Byrne had to watch in agony as his final shot at goal drifted just wide to the left when it would have given Bristol a second bonus point in defeat.
It was a close call from a tough spot on the right-hand five-metre line but Byrne’s frustration was clear.
Still, it was a fine debut having had so little time with Bristol in the build-up and Lam, whose side are second in the Premiership, is delighted to have him on board.
So while Leinster are preparing to face La Rochelle in France on Sunday, Byrne is part of Bristol’s plans for Champions Cup clashes with Benetton and Clermont over the next two weekends.
“It’s a great opportunity for Harry and there’s obviously, you know, four quality 10s here and I think the first thing is Harry’s a great, great person,” said Leinster attack coach Tyler Bleyendaal.
“So he’s a great lad, he’s contributed well and the opportunity for him to go to Bristol and play, I think it’s exciting for him.
“I think it’s going to challenge him, it’s going to get him playing some good footy hopefully and just as it was with the competition, the way Sam [Prendergast] has gone, Ross [Byrne] and Frawls [Ciarán Frawley] in the building as well, it’s just the way it has unfolded.”
As for the prospect of Byrne’s loan move paving the way for similar moves for Leinster players in the future, Bleyendaal wasn’t so certain.
“Yeah, I’m not sure if there’s something that we will actively look to do,” he said. “I think this situation just unfolded the way it did and it aligned a certain way, but we’re just excited for Harry.
“Now that he’s left, he’s going to be doing his thing. We’ve got a few young guys as well that are going to hopefully get into a few more training sessions.”
No point keeping the talent we’re producing in the shed. Get them out in the garden so they blossom!
All for interprovincial ones, but actively dislike the fact an Irish international is going to abroad for game time in a position 2 of our 4 teams were screaming for a player.
Interprovincial loans were popular enough about a decade ago, but have seemed to have died a death recently. And they clearly worked. Off my head I can think of 7 loans to Connacht in the past 10 years.
Of the 7 Cooney, Roux, and Daly were in an Ireland squad within 2 years of their move. Wootton was in the league team of the year and was the league’s top try scorer. (Others I were thinking of were Gilsenan, Declan Moore, and Michael McDonald). I would note few went back to their original province, but so what if the opportunity or pathway wasn’t there.
@David Hickey: Do you think players should be forced to play at a team?
@David Hickey: maybe he doesn’t want to play for a poor Connacht team and wants experience abroad? Bristol also have one of the richest club owners in England so this might work out well for him
@adizlack93: Connacht wouldn’t be so poor if resources were spread evenly
@anthony davoren: IRFU ain’t a charity bud. They were a disgrace against a young Ulster team at home recently and that was nothing to do with resources
@adizlack93: Maybe. But that’s something the IRFU need to address. It’s a poor state of affairs when an Irish player would rather move abroad than play for an Irish team.
@Thesaltyurchin: Of course they shouldn’t be forced. But there absolutely needs to be more incentivised dictation from the IRFU.
About 15 years ago you had lads who were second choice fighting at the bit to get an opportunity at another province (Keatley and Sexton trying to get to Connacht comes to mind), but now you’ve 3rd or 4th choice lads happy to not play, or move abroad and nix the national team, over play for another province.
@David Hickey: Maybe but Irish ‘incentives’ can be quite punitive, and Irish rugby is effectively authoritarian communism, personally I think exploring options in freer markets would be cheaper for the IRFU and beneficial to the standards of players. We can send all the players west if we like, will that make for an audience size capable of turning a profit? Maybe it does, maybe it doesn’t either way its more money to spend.
@Thesaltyurchin: They are punitive, and that is what I am suggesting can be improved. A player was offered a loan this summer and was agreeable but highlighted the increased costs and time required for having to travel cross country to study/work and having to rent now, when they had been living at home. A small accommodation of a few thousand euro wasn’t afforded to them, and that was that. These are the blocks that need to be taken down.
As regards development. The entire purpose of routing professionalism through the provinces is to act as a supply chain for the national team. Professional and financial ambition is to be involved with the national team. And if players/fans think otherwise, there is something wrong with the system. (Which isn’t necessarily players/fans fault at all). Having players within direct IRFU/national team management will always be better than not for development.
Connacht Rugby’s finances are in healthy shape, so I don’t get the dig at Connacht’s profitability, except for the sake of a dig at Connacht. Or its relevance to players going on loan there.
@David Hickey: David Humphreys has already addressed this, he’s said he cant force players sitting 2nd, 3rd 4th choice at a province to move, but players that are happy to sit on a bench rather than move and get gametime and challange themsleves are players that the national team doesn’t want. Think we’ll see move of this, Deegan was in great form earlier in season, (I thought better than Timoney and Prendergast) but those two are ahead of him for Ireland as they are first choice and he’s not even a bench option and by not moving its cost him international apperances. The days of saying if you want to force your way into the Ireland is by winning your position at Leinster first. If you want international honours you need to be playing games.
@David Hickey: That’s the difference between a “loan” move and a permanent move. I am not sure what it is that puts players off moving, but none of the players you have listed went on to have stellar international careers. One thing a player craves is certainty and the loan move to England or France in the knowledge they will return is probably a compromise. Irish provinces will want the player to move permanently (I would think). Imagine if the Carbery deal had been offered as a 1 year loan – Munster would certainly have said no.
@Paul Ennis: maybe not stellar, but better than those who went abroad or stayed down the pecking order.
You can’t play for Ireland if you play abroad, or are 3rd/4th choice (according to Humphreys). So the alternative is to get game time elsewhere, and it is better to do so in an environment under the IRFU control and for the benefit of an Irish team.
@Paul Ennis: Whatever about the many other elements of the debate, the widely expressed idea – mentioned repeatedly here and elsewhere – that players leaving Leinster is a platform to international caps (nevermind a ‘stellar international career’) is a fallacy. If they can’t make the first Leinster 23, 99% of these players are not going to have a stellar international career, regardless of where they go. (Tadhg Beirne represents that 1%.) Until the IRFU introduces provincial quotas dictating the make-up of Ireland squads, it will remain harder to get into the Ireland squad than the Leinster one. They need to leave to have a chance of reaching their potential, no more than that. I don’t know where I stand on the wider argument, but watching Leinster v Leinster North doesn’t do it for me.
@David Hickey: Except Cooney, Roux and Daly weren’t loans. They were players out of contract who moved province. The same as Ben Murphy, Josh Murphy, Andrew Smith, David Hawkshaw, Jack Aungier, Jeremy Loughman, Roman Salanoa, Paddy Patterson. To name but a few recent ones.
@Stephen Nolan: You are incorrect. All 3 moved to Connacht on loan initially.
@Stephen Nolan: https://www.irishrugby.ie/2014/06/11/cooney-and-roux-move-to-connacht-in-loan-deal/
https://www.connachtrugby.ie/news/tom-daly-joins-connacht-on-loan-for-the-remainder-of-the-season/bp1182/
I’d love to see the IRFU become a minority shareholder or have some form of partnership with a ProD2 team in France for this purpose. What young lad wouldn’t be happy with going to Biarritz (for example) for a year or 2 to help their development.
@cian nolan: they would be non JIFF players, and would Biarritz really want players that will only be there a seaon or two? Would they not be better giving that gametime to thierbown acamady players that will be staying with the team, and they can even build a team and future planning around?
Like everything in Ireland this type of initiative is 10 years late.
I think people are over-estimating the number of players who are really good bets for inter-provincial loans. Senior squads are smaller now while injury lists are higher. Given also the dearth of props across the board, and that Leinster, the main (desired) supplier of loanees have the additional issue of heavy international absences and associated minutes management, there aren’t really that many guys who can be spared and recipients want. The Leinster FH surplus was quite unusual. (I also like the nickname of Harry the Spare, for which credit to the guys on the Molecast podcast)