"The Other Provinces Need to Stand Up & Fight!" | Ronan O'Gara | OTB Breakfast

Ronan O'Gara is asked about Leinster's ongoing dominance amongst the Irish provinces on Off The Ball Breakfast.
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[@user-yq7tt3ii6h]

You could tell he wanted to say "The other provinces need to pull their own weight" but he stopped himself. Munster, Ulster and Connacht have already started to bring young players from the Leinster system into their academies and they've always had 5+ ex-Leinster players in their squads, so its up to them now to turn those rocks into diamonds.

[@gavinobrien3654]

Who writes your headlines!?!? There was zero criticism of Leinster from O'Gara, instead his criticism was for the other 3 provinces needing to get their act together in their academies....

[@jeramy576]

They're always trying to bait especially when Rog is involved

[@cianmaher945]

Very hard to just tell Connacht to get there act together when we are the joint second least funded club in the urc

[@keego_keego]

Spot on Gav

[@paulennis2996]

Has the headline changed? I read the headline as (ROG responds to) Leinster Criticism: "The other Provinces need to stand up and fight".The quote being the headline and "Leinster Criticism" being the context, without which the headline makes no sense.

[@Shane-zx4ps]

I’m a Leinster man through and through and I want to see the other provinces be on par with Leinster as we all know it would be a crap tournament without real competition a bit like the dubs over the last decade.

[@fawltyoldboybasil.2178]

"...the INFLATION of one Province at the expense of the others..." - sounds more like an accusation of a deliberate action by the IRFU. Every Irish rugby fan can see that Leinster are in a very enviable position because of the demographics of population and assets (schools, clubs) that feed into their rugby program - that is NOT an artificial creation engineered by the IRFU or Leinster Rugby to favor the province. It is just the reality of the situation. That being said, it is now incumbent on the IRFU to correct this imbalance and provide more support (both financial and personnel) to the other 3 Provinces. Over to you David Humphries.

[@paulennis2996]

That sounds like a very difficult challenge. I think the only thing the IRFU could be accused of is inaction. They came up with a fair and equitable system, designed mainly for the benefit of the national team. The only factor they didn't take into consideration were the natural advantages that Leinster have, but seemed to be irrelevant back in 2000 / 2001. As I understand, the IRFU are going to ask the provinces to contribute a percentage of the central contract which will either be redistributed or allow for addional central contracts.

[@TropicalJungleIreland]

Sports is a numbers game. Leinster schools out number the other provinces. Bigger pool to play, train, develop etc....

[@paulnash5500]

Leinster just got it right. It took years, and now others are whining.

[@pauleire]

There's also the "numbers"coming from intergenerational wealth into the Leinster schools. IRFU don't have much to do with that in fairness, and other provinces simply don't and will never those "numbers" in any schools, private, or not.

[@andrew097]

Munster academy's stagnated under previous coaches, who never really used them. Roundtree has started to pull players through. Munster has rejected Keatly, Healy Hanaran and Carbury. That some talent pool to fail.

[@christiaantheron9080]

How does the expediture at LAR compare to Munster or Ulster?

[@leooshea8089]

In the long-term, economic and demographic disparities between Dublin and the rest of the country will tend to translate to every other sector (culture, infrastructure, health, education, sport...). These are the effects of decades of political decisions (also made in Dublin) not the character defects of provincial populations who literally don't have it in their power to change that situation. As long as wealth, power and population is concentrated in Dublin so will the lion's share of players and trophies.

[@brendanward9877]

Irrespective of your point and it may be true there is one simple fact, it is the capital city and it’s where a majority of people want to live, native and foreigners. I’m not being critical of anywhere outside of Dublin and I understand there are many have decided to move outside of Dublin also but it’s not particularly an Irish thing, it’s a global phenomenon. Young people in particular want to be somewhere lively. I also understand that most big tech companies want to base themselves her for lots of reasons. It is what it is.

[@paulennis2996]

Dublin has continued to grow at a faster rate than the rest of the country, despite government policy rather than because of it. 30 years ago, there was decentralisation (remember that?), since then it has been Dublin property prices and over the last 5 years working from home. But people still want to live and work in Dublin. As I understand it, policy will incorage urban living over rural to ensure a more environmentally sustainable model of living. The state of our rugby clubs shouldn't come into that conversation.

[@Dreyno]

The other provinces need to produce better players. That’s the beginning and end of it.

[@Inconvenientx]

Find a few million quid to resource their schools the same as St Michael's, Blackrock, etc and they will. It's almost all state schools in Limerick and they aren't close to the level of investment of the Dublin elite schools. St Michael's has close to pro facilities and, according to John Barkley, €1m per annum for rugby.

[@marco24520021991]

ROG still crying

[@andrew097]

The whinging from the Champions is pitiful.

[@tomgreene1843]

Is it becoming a money game ...??

[@DaSkonk]

It already has, long since. Becoming more like football every day in that regard, more's the pity.

[@tomgreene1843]

@@DaSkonk I think you are correct ...just think of all the seats Barrett will sell for Leinster.

[@Karma-qt4ji]

With the steady stream of foreign talent into the Irish national side over the last 2 decades, it has always been a money game. World Rugby, in their own words, introduced the 5 year eligibilty rule to combat this trend.