LeRouxIsPHat wrote:The Henshaw and Carbery situations are vastly different IMO.
Henshaw's contract was up and he wanted to come here, Connacht weren't guaranteed HC rugby every year, his girlfriend lived in Dubin etc etc. The IRFU didn't want him to go, and (I know DC disputed this) my info was that he was put on a Leinster deal first and then bumped up to a central contract because of it.
That's a very different situation to Joey. If the IRFU coerced him into joining Munster then they're the ones who treated him like an inanimate object. I don't have a problem with player's breaking contracts per se. If DK or Mick Kearney got a good offer elsewhere and wanted to move then I'd say good luck to them, but not so much a guy who was in our first choice 23 and had signed a deal a year or so before and was halfway through his contract. Given that it looks like it was the IRFU that prompted it, I think it's fair enough to not be happy about it, even if it does make a lot of sense for Joey. As Peg Leg alluded to, nobody was annoyed with Jordi, and given that he was the first one to go you'd imagine he would have come in for worse treatment.
As much as I dislike what happened, it wouldn't taint my view of Joe's legacy, and actually it provides a good answer for what that legacy is, which is that the system (both on and off the pitch) is always the most important thing.
This is clearly a discussion, rather than a debate which might reach a conclusion, and I offer one point which I believe is often ignored in the consideration of Carbery's decision, particularly when compared with that of Henshaw.
Jackson and Olding. Without the occurences which led to the departure from our shores of these two players, it is highly unlikely that Carbery's accelerated development as an out-half would have been elevated to the priority it became for Nucifora and Schmidt. However, once DN, and probably Philip Browne and Tom Grace, took the decision that the protection of the IRFU, financially and in brand value, required the exile of the central figures in the debacle, Schmidt and Nucifora had to assess the impact and determine what were the possible solutions.
Regardless of precedent, or of previous Union or Provincial policy, about players in contract, IMO it is likely that they both agree that the unique circumstances required a unique solution. The fact that the solution also tallied with, and confirmed, one of Nucifora's key objectives (i.e. the movement of players from Province of origin as determined by the IRFU, rather than by player choice) which he had outlined after his first 4 months in the job, was a bonus (for him).
Maybe in some future biography, either DN or JS will outline exactly what happened in the case of Joey. Some rumours emanated from IRFU circles, immediately post the exile decision, that a detailed evaluation was carried out as to whether Mads was a possible solution as cover for Jonny S and an experienced No 10 signing for Ulster. However, the coaching opinion was that this was not the ideal solution as cover for JS.
Remember, Madigan signed a 3-yr deal with Bristol in April / May 2017. Bristol played Championship, not Premiership rugby in 2017-18, and it had always been rumoured that his contract with Lam had a "get out of jail" clause, if Bristol didn't go straight back up to Premiership.
So, however the future of Joey's move to Munster pans out and whether it should have happened in the manner it did, may be discussed and debated for the next decade, it will be very difficult for anybody but the direct participants to replicate the panic that occured, within the coaching and management circles of Irish and Ulster management in the immediate aftermath of the Jackson / Olding fiasco.
