It’s time we worked together.

I came across an article written by Gordon D’Arcy in The Irish Times this afternoon and to be honest it really set me off.

Now I normally have great time for the Ireland centre and some of the work he has put out since he hung up his boots has been excellent. He gives some really good insight, and while his blues tinted shades are usually on, he’s not afraid to tell it how it is.

Today he wrote a piece on the whole Joey Carbery or Ross Byrne to Ulster situation, but for some reason dragged the other two provinces (Munster and Connacht) into it.

In it D’Arcy says moving either player sets a dangerous precedent, and that ‘Leinster won’t remain the best in Europe if they have to solve Munster and Ulster’s problems.’

He basically says the ‘mandate is clear’ – Leinster have the best academy and recruitment structure and will be ‘punished’ until the other provinces get their act together.

The IRFU mandate is clear: until non-Leinster provinces improve recruitment and academy structures, the ability of Leo Cullen and his coaches to do their jobs will be hindered. Connacht appear to be going just fine on both fronts, but cracks in the Munster and Ulster squads need papering over by Leinster.

Lets start with Connacht – they most certainly are not doing fine on both fronts. They are unable to recruit quality players because they simply do not have the budget, and never have. Their academy structure is nowhere near that of Leinster’s and never will be. Connacht has always been the runt of the litter (no offence to them but that’s just how the IRFU sees them) and will continue to need support from the other provinces to compete.

That’s not an insult to Connacht, it’s just a fact. They give back when they can, and a lot of players owe their careers to Connacht (Jerry Flannery, Sean Cronin, Ian Keatley, Paul Warwick, Robbie Henshaw etc).

As for the ‘cracks’ in the Munster and Ulster squads that need papering over – yes both sides probably need a quality ten, Ulster especially. But if there are three top quality tens at one province, does it not make perfect sense to at least try and move them?

D’Arcy believes this is just a “short-term solution to a much larger and deeper problem.”

Ridiculously, Leinster are being punished for a succession plan that is the envy of most organisations in European sport – home grown, with a constant supply in every position. That’s being eroded because Munster and Ulster back offices failed to get their ducks in a row during the good times. Now they need Leinster players to fill their ranks with quality.

Now let’s stop for a second. This ‘home grown’ supply. Where is it coming from? Do Leo Cullen and Stuart Lancaster have a special laboratory in Dublin where they farm Jordan Larmours, James Ryans and Dan Leavys? Of course not. They’ve just got a much bigger pool of players to choose from, who have access to a hell of a lot more tools than the hopefuls from other provinces.

Let’s look at the population of each province (2016)

Leinster – 2.5m

Munster – 1.2m‬ ‪

Connacht – 551k‬ ‪

Ulster – 296k‬ (Republic) (2.1m total)

Now let’s stop and think of the  infrastructure, facilities, amount of clubs, wealth etc. that’s in Dublin. Don’t take this as an insult or an attack Leinster fans. Dublin reigns supreme in Ireland when it comes to pretty much everything.

If you want a good job, or one in a specific sector, chances are you have to move to Dublin. If you want to see a good concert, you have to go to Dublin. If you want to make business contacts, you go to Dublin. If you want to see the national team, you go to Dublin. If you want to see an All-Ireland final, you go to Dublin. But it’s the capital. It’s fair enough.

Perhaps the government in Ireland is guilty of putting too much ‘stock’ into the capital. But it’s just the way it is. I’m from Limerick and over half of my friends have moved to Dublin to pursue careers. They had no choice really. The work just wasn’t here for them. And that can be said for a hell of a lot of people.

The other provinces are do their very best with what they have available to them in terms of population and infrastructure.

People complain about Munster spending a fortune on redeveloping Thomond Park for example, but it was neccessary. And they fill it quite a few times each season when you consider the travel involved for the surrounding counties. Limerick has a population of less than 200,000, and we don’t even have a bloody motorway to Cork. Dublin in contrast has a population of 1,300,000.

And lets not forget – when Leinster have a big game, they have access to the Aviva Stadium, which they can cram 50,000 into. That’s more than the capacity of the Sportsground, Ravenhill and Thomond Park combined.

Now let’s take a look at New Zealand Rugby for a minute.

They have a similar set-up to Ireland. They act as an umbrella organisation and own all five of their clubs. Let’s take the top four out of them, leaving out the Auckland Blues, who are the lowest ranked at the moment.

Instead of adding up the population for the regions, lets just take the main cities (it’s easier that way, and would be like taking Cork, Dublin, Galway and Belfast for the provinces).

Hurricanes (Wellington) – 496k

Crusaders (Christchurch) – 375k

Chiefs (Hamilton) – 165k

Highlanders (Dunedin) – 120k

Two of the Barrett’s play for the Hurricanes, while the other plays with the Crusaders.

As you can see it’s similar to Ireland in many ways. The Hurricanes are like Leinster, Munster the Crusaders and so on. But the players move around in New Zealand a lot more frequently. They don’t stockpile resources in certain clubs. If you’re not getting game time, you move to another region, it’s a simple as that. As a result, all of their teams are competitive each year, and they’ve got an unbelievable feeder system for the All Blacks.

The national side benefits, the clubs benefit, the players benefit.

Sure there is still a massive rivalry between the sides when they play, but their ultimate goal is to work as a cohesive unit. The ultimate goal is to benefit New Zealand Rugby as a whole, and the last time I checked – it’s been working out pretty damn well for them.

The fact is – Leinster will always be miles ahead. They will always ben able to generate more money because of the balance that exists in Ireland between its capital and every other county. That money will fuel their recruitment. Munster, Ulster and Connacht will never be in a situation where they can bring in someone like Scott Fardy, who’s played 39 Test for the Wallabies at flanker and play him as a second-row. They will never be able to bring a player of Jame Lowe’s quality in and leave him out of their entire squad for a Champions Cup semi-final.

Leinster will always have a better academy. They have better schools, more schools. Better colleges, more colleges. Better clubs, more clubs. They have at least twice the population of any other province. Of course they will be able to produce more. Just look at the school’s game in Leinster? Are Leo Cullen and Leinster Rugby directly responsible for that? Of course not.

But the other provinces aren’t complaining about that. Sure they’re jealous, and why wouldn’t they be? But when you’ve got a situation where Leinster’s second or even third team is almost better than the starting team of other provinces, we’ve got a serious problem. Leinster needs to help them out, and they, nor the other provinces shouldn’t be ashamed of that.

Conway’s move to Munster saved his career.

Yes of course it will come down to the players choice. Everyone wants to represent the province they were born in. But these guys need to start being encouraged to look at making a move if they’re not getting the game time they need. The game has changed. Professionalism has reached incredible levels in recent years. It’s not just about playing for the ‘province’ anymore – it’s a career, a profession. If moving province means you’ll get a starring role, start every game, become a better player and get an opportunity to play for your country – then why the hell not?

Going back to Gordan D’Arcy. When he retired, Leinster had no problem poaching Robbie Henshaw from Connacht to replace him.

What’s the big deal with Leinster giving Carbery or Byrne to Ulster to replace Paddy Jackson?

Yes Leinster, the other provinces are in awe of your current squad, your academy and almost everything else. But you’ve all got the same boss. You’re all owned by the IRFU.

We’re in this together. Share the bloody wealth.

The whole equals the sum of its parts.

Four successful provinces = one very successful country.

If Ireland are every to win the Rugby World Cup, we must work together.