TOMORROW, SAM PRENDERGAST will become the first graduate from the Ireland U20s team that won a Grand Slam and reached a World Cup final in 2023 to step up as a senior international.
Gus McCarthy, the captain of that U20s team, is currently training with Andy Farrell’s squad but has three far more experienced hookers ahead of him.
No one else from that U20s team has been involved with the senior squad yet.
From the France U20s team that beat Ireland in the World Cup final last year, centre Nicolas Depoortère has already won two senior caps for les Bleus, second row Posolo Tuilagi has four caps, flanker Lenni Nouchi – the captain of the U20s – has two, wing Théo Attissogbé has three, while back row Marko Gazzotti and centres Paul Costes and Léon Darricarrère – who missed that World Cup with injury - were called up to Fabien Galthié’s senior squad this month.
It helped hugely in building depth that Galthié left his frontline internationals out of last summer’s tour to Argentina and Uruguay. We should also underline that France’s U20 team from last year was especially talented. They hammered Ireland 50-14 in the final.
But it’s still not hard to see how quickly French U20 internationals can progress if they’re good enough to play Test rugby.
The key difference between the Ireland and France sides from last year’s U20s final is the utter gulf in experience they have with their club sides.
A few head-to-head comparisons underline that.
Fintan Gunne, who started at scrum-half for Ireland in the final, has made six replacement appearances for Leinster. Baptiste Jauneau, the French number nine that day, has started 37 games for Clemont.
Out-half Prendergast has had eight senior starts for Leinster, while Marco Reus already has 14 for La Rochelle.
Centre John Devine remains uncapped by Connacht and Hugh Gavin has two appearances for the province, while Depoortère has made 34 starts for Bordeaux and Costes has 16 for Toulouse. Depoortère and Costes both played in last season’s Top 14 final, while the latter started Toulouse’s Champions Cup final win against Leinster.
The brilliant Brian Gleeson has yet to start a game for Munster – albeit he was injured for the opening block of this URC season – while Gazzotti, who is still only 20 like Gleeson, has already started 18 games for Bordeaux to earn his senior France call-up.
Ulster back row James McNabney has enjoyed four starts for his province but has been slowed by injuries, and yet his opposite number from the final, Nouchi, has had 23 starts for Montpellier in the Top 14.
The list goes on but the point is clear.
Prendergast is getting his Ireland debut when it’s still unclear if he has moved above third position in Leinster’s pecking order. He has never started a game in the Champions Cup.
24-year-old tighthead Thomas Clarkson, who is also set for his Ireland debut off the bench tomorrow, has only played in the Champions Cup once and has just one knock-out appearance for his province so far.
When Clarkson played for the Ireland U20s against France in 2019, he scrummaged against Jean-Baptiste Gros, who scored his first senior Test try for les Bleus last weekend as he earned his 30th cap. Gros has started 65 games for Toulon, while Clarkson has started 21 for Leinster.
While making all of these comparisons, we must remember that Ireland are the back-to-back Six Nations champions, with a Grand Slam in 2023 after a series win in New Zealand in 2022. Throw in a Test victory against the back-to-back world champion Springboks in South Africa last summer and Andy Farrell’s men are going very well.
One of the huge advantages France has is its 30 professional clubs split across the Top 14 and Pro D2, with a few more in the Nationale tier below that. There are simply more opportunities for young players.
The IRFU did explore the possibility of investing in London Irish when the English club hit financial trouble and eventually filed for administration last year, but the union decided against what would have been a big financial risk.
But there’s no doubt that giving ample game time to the talented players coming through the Irish rugby system is a big challenge for the IRFU to solve.
The union’s former performance director David Nucifora warned that this was coming back in October 2o22.
“What’s happening now is that we have a model where over the next couple of years, we’re going to run out of space,” said Nucifora.
“If everyone down the bottom keeps doing their job as well as they have done it or we keep improving there, we’re going to run out of space in the provinces.
“We’ve got less opportunity for these talented players sitting at the back end of the squads. The reality is those players will look elsewhere if they don’t get time.”
It’s worth pointing out that the four Irish provinces aren’t dominant in terms of their performances at the moment. Leinster are regularly in contention for trophies but haven’t lifted one since 2021, while Munster won the URC in 2023.
But currently, there are a few worries about the provinces’ ability to be winning silverware.
Nucifora was keen for more player movement between provinces, ensuring that the most talented players were playing as regularly as possible rather than sitting behind more experienced players in their current province. It never really got going. Lots of players have turned down opportunities to switch provinces.
New IRFU performance director David Humphreys announced in July that the provinces would be banned from signing front row players amid concerns about Ireland’s propping depth charts.
What has been clear in recent times is that Ireland boss Andy Farrell does not believe he has a deep pool of players who are currently ready to play Test rugby.
“You can’t pull a rabbit out of a hat and throw people in if they’re not ready,” said Farrell last week.
“We’re not South Africa or England or New Zealand in terms of there being thousands of players out there that you can just throw in and see how it goes. That’s not the way it is here.”
Farrell repeated that sentiment and some of those words yesterday.
Discussing his decision to make just one change to his starting XV for tomorrow’s clash despite a disappointing performance against New Zealand last time out, Farrell indicated that he feels his hands are tied.
“There’s a bit of hurt and a reaction and that will come as well but at the same time, we haven’t got thousands of players anyway,” said Farrell.
“It is what it is and we know where our bread’s buttered and we’ve got to act according to that and make the group stronger the whole time by giving them an opportunity either to right some wrongs or take an opportunity that’s in front of them.”
Farrell was asked if he believes the Irish system could be better at building a broader base and exposing more players to the top level.
“It’s the old adage in life, isn’t it?” said Farrell.
“Your strength is probably your weakness that’s probably the case with Irish rugby. We have a small group of players but it is a bit of a strength as well.”
Farrell said this challenge has only become greater because the URC no longer overlaps with international rugby.
“Back in the day – it’s not too long ago now – the league carried on playing as we were going through competitions, Six Nations, and you used to see 22/23-year-olds getting fantastic game time and the conveyor belt kept on coming because of that.
“We’ve got to find a way because that doesn’t happen anymore in the competition so we’ve got to keep finding a way to get these players through.”
Farrell said that’s partly why there were Emerging Ireland tours in 2022 and again this year, but three games in a short window against relatively limited opposition doesn’t seem to be the answer.
The IRFU recently confirmed that the A inter-provincial men’s championship is relaunching this coming Saturday, with each of the provinces playing six games over the course of this season.
The All-Ireland League is where academy players play the majority of their rugby and the standard in Division 1A is particularly excellent, but it’s fair to say that the league remains fairly disconnected from the professional game.
There was some chat about an U23 version of the URC a few years ago but that never went any further. And given that the IRFU has a policy of not selecting players based abroad for the national team, those with ambitions of representing Ireland have to be based at home.
So this is a space worth watching.
Good article Murray. It’s the biggest challenge facing Humphries . If it’s not resolved, the senior team and provinces risk plateauing at this level while Eng/ FRA will get better. I really think not taking a controlling stake in L. Irish was a chance missed although I accept there is probably a lot of risks involved. The rivalry between certain provinces is a healthy thing but it often puts young players off moving to a hated rival. A move to Irish would have been more neutral. I think IRFU should encourage/ allow Irish players move abroad IF they are not getting sufficient games for their province and still deem them available to the Irish team. This option should not be available for established internationals or players who are playing regularly at provincial level.
The fact that gavin Coombes Ben healy antoine frisch john cooney john hodnett dave heffernan john klyen aidan morgan and cathal ford seem surplus to farrell has to be a issue in a ideal world all these guys should be getting exposure. I’m fearful for ireland when our 31 years plus players start dropping out of the team, Gibson Park, Lowe,aki,Murray,furlong,healy, mahoney,beirne,Henderson,
Well at Leinster, the person deciding things is Leo and he hasn’t been bursting with confidence in bringing on young scrum halfs or fly halfs, that is without media pressure. He might say, his job is to win games, well that only works so far until you’re left with an aging population of old stars.
I think Ben Murphy and Matthew Divine are better scrum halfs than Fintan Gunne – but maybe they are getting more game time than the latter. Is Sam P getting game at Leinster because of pressure from AF & IRFU? Let’s hope so as AF has a good eye for talent. Often Leo has put out a young side and lost games, instead of bringing young talent on beside experienced players, so they can flourish and gain confidence. No doubt there will be others who see things differently.
Something will have to be done, at the moment we have Bealham, Furlong, Herring, Healy, Berine, POM, JVF, Murray, JGP, Aki, Henshaw, Lowe, Henderson, McCloskey and Conan all over the age of 30+. Throw in the World Cup in 3 years and Kennan, Ringrose and Porter will be over 30+. That’s 18 players, we don’t have 18 international standard players ready to step in if needed
@Liam23: jaysus SA are fecked so, most of their squad over 30
@anthony davoren: Agreed. I had no idea we were entered into the U30s RWC.
Maybe we could take advantage of the fact that England and France, particularly France, have so many clubs. We could send young players over to get experience with the proviso that they return after a year or two.
@Robert McDonnell: We not, it will give them experience. However, a hefty salary may keep them away e.g. Trevor Brennan. Lots of Irish lads went to England and setup home there. It’s not always easy to come back, like Tadgh Beirne managed to do.
@Robert McDonnell: I heard Bernard Jackman say that french clubs are regularly onto him looking for players to cover injuries or gaps in their squads. Sending over young players to the french division 1 league for half or a full season (particularly young props) would be a great way of gaining experience and guarantees that they are not lost to the irish system
There has been register of interest from two parties to buy and resurrect London Irish, and compete in next year’s championship. The only thing they have at the moment are the training grounds and the brand. They will need players if this goes ahead.
Perhaps there is still scope to work out some sort of deal with L Irish regarding using Irish players, but them being available for Irish camps/emerging Ireland tours etc.?
Murray I’d be interested in your own opinion, as someone who knows a lot about the game.
Still can’t understand why we don’t think outside the box & maybe partner with the Aussie Super Rugby franchises (strapped for cash & struggling to attract talent going to AFL & NRL) to place young players down under for 1-2 seasons before bringing them back into the provinces. Win win (for the players too as they join a lot of their friends working abroad for a spell). Know the concerns will be financial cost & the possible lower standard of coaching but game time & exposure to that style of rugby would be invaluable