That obviously is arguable in the case of Ulster, as you can see if you around here enough
; in fairness Leinster certainly seem to run a pretty tight ship, and have done a great job in terms of building and sustaining top-notch coaching tickets, squads and importantly, bringing punters through the gates in a big way. But you can see why, just considering squad development over the last couple of years, Munster do appear to be lagging. For all that Humph may be criticised for, recruitment has been outstanding – consider that we have brought BJ, Mueller, Pienaar, Wannenberg, Afoa, Payne and Terblanche into the club, compared with Borlase, du Preez, Tuitupou, Chambers, Tokula – a couple of reasonable players there, but a big gulf in class.As well as a mediocre recent track record in recruiting externally, Munster have also had problems in its academy, which has failed to produce enough new players of the calibre of the old guard they need to replace – all of which has seen them become increasingly dependent on the ageing core of the squad which has served them so well over the last decade. The squad is then padded out with middling players who are handed contracts but don’t feature meaningfully for Munster – the main beneficiary seems to be the local AIL clubs..
Financially, while the picture is pretty opaque as ever with the IRFU, we know that they’re in arrears with the repayments on the Thomond loan. Attendances are down this year (as they are for most clubs in Europe). But to make matters worse for themselves, Munster are saddled with the ridiculous duplication of personnel and facilities due to the Cork/Limerick politicking. I only properly realised the absurd extent of this when I read an interview with Keatley earlier this season, ans they asked him what it was like working alongside ROG, and he replied that yeah it was great, though he didn’t train with him that much because he was based in Limerick and ROG was Cork!!! And also there were the rumours of some of the ‘big-ticket’ signings from the past being funded by local businessmen – something that I don’t think is desirable for a business – to rely on, effectively, charity, or a sugar-daddy’s goodwill is not a good basis for a sustainable business model.
So throw it all together and what do you get – well it’s kind of hard to say, but you don’t have to strain your imagination too much to see a bit of a looming headache for IRFU/Munster.. in my day job I deal with distressed companies, and there are quite a few warning flags here – longer-term strategic planning (eg. academy) neglected during ‘good times’; lack of cost discipline (wasteful, duplicated facilities and overhead); empire-building/sacred cows (the Limerick/Cork arm-wrestle)
In fairness it would take a brave man to write them off, on the field at least – once again they’re at the boss end of the domestic and European tournaments, however there are only so many years left in the legs of ROG, POC, DOC, Howlett, Wallace etc. The big headache would be if results on the pitch take a dive next season or the one after, the squad is weakened dramatically by retirements/injuries of the oldies, the public vote with their feet… The IRFU has quite a lot on its plate already – resolving the rapid decline in fortunes of the national side under an increasingly ineffectual-looking coaching ticket; hoping that the Ulster-boosting pays dividends and brings them back to the top table; figuring out what to do with Connacht – are they going to have to add Munster to the list in a year or two?
Simple fact is that with the alleged dearth of young talent they have coped extremely well on the playing front this year with some pretty heavy injuries, particularly in the backrow and in have stepped guys and done a job - young O'Mahony & Tommy O'Donnell was also doing pretty well until he got injured.
