Comment
Rob Murphy
ON the face of it, Ireland’s exit from the Rugby World Cup can, and will, be viewed with a large degree of sympathy. Four key men injured or suspended in the lead-up to Sunday’s game left Ireland vulnerable against an Argentinian side that had beaten them twice in three previous world cup meetings.
The Pumas have been plying their trade in an expanded Rugby Championship with Australia, New Zealand and South Africa for three years now. So it was no surprise to see them able to compete with and outplay Ireland for long periods of the game. Argentina were simply brilliant on Sunday and deserve all the plaudits.
That said, we can’t just leave it at that and simply move on. Ireland are Six Nations champions two years on the bounce, and the simple reality is that the progress in the northern hemisphere's primary competition has done little to close the gap with the elite teams from the south.
Ireland remain the only tier one nation never to make it to the last four of the World Cup, and this was yet another competition that ended in a very poor quarter-final performance. Injuries or no injuries, Ireland were outclassed at the weekend. Wales suffered even more injury heartbreak but at least exited the competition with a positive display.
On the club rugby website KnockOn.ie this month, we reported some alarming figures straight from the IRFU’s annual report that highlight why many in the grassroots rugby community are extremely concerned for the future of the game at all levels.
Player numbers at amateur level have plummeted in the last five years, while the investment in the professional game has seen a dramatic increase. The IRFU have enjoyed a 20 per cent increase in revenue since 2009. That’s a jump of €15 million in money coming in, yet in that period, they have cut their investment in amateur rugby by the same margin, 20 per cent, which equates to a €2.3 million drop in spend.
This trend is augmented by the reality that the money has been redirected into an ever-growing elite player development programme. More money is being spent on academies where top players are developed ... with some notable success. Yet those players that fall by the wayside and don’t make it to the progressional grade (namely the vast majority) are left behind, cast aside with no clear programme in place to ensure they remain in the game.
Irish rugby is at a crossroads. Overall, they can point to a lot of positives and some bad luck in this World Cup. But underneath the surface, they are staring at the same numbers and listening to the same stories that we in the grassroots rugby journalism community are hearing every day. They have two choices – engage with the problem or plough on regardless.
