Connacht youths given harsh lesson

[packie]

I Saw this in last Sundays tribune and wondered what people thought of it

Connacht given harsh lesson

ITshould have been the day John O'Brien and Dermot Murphy confirmed their case for inclusion in the Ireland Schools set-up as Garbally College and Coláiste Iognáid met in the Connacht Tribune Senior Cup quarter-final last Thursday. Alas, it is an ambition that will go unrealised.

The dividing line between the Schools and Youths has been blurred as Connacht's new combination between both sections, designed to strengthen their challenge to Leinster, Munster and Ulster schools, has caused confusion and dissatisfaction on all sides. It resulted in the Domestic Games Committee handing down a decision to exclude Connacht Schools players from testing themselves against the best of the rest in Ireland.

"We were told of the decision not to allow Connacht players to go forward for the Irish Schools at a meeting in mid-December. It came as a shock. It just wasn't right, " said a Connacht source.

It was not so much the decision as the timing of it. It was announced at a meeting right in the middle of the season. If Connacht's better players had known at the start of the season that they were not eligible for Ireland Schools that would be one thing. It was less than a week later that the Ireland under18 Schools trial was announced. There were 45 players named, and O'Brien and Murphy were nowhere in sight.

The Connacht under-18 Schools were more than able to hold their own this season.

They beat Munster 11-8, drew with Ulster 0-0 and lost to Leinster 32-12. It made for a stronger competition all round and gave Connacht's elite players the opportunity to play and learn against the best under-18 schools players in the country. This is an even greater aid to development as the Connacht schools struggle for the highest quality friendly matches against the likes of Blackrock, Methodist and PBC.

Wearing their Youths caps, O'Brien and Murphy were central figures as Connacht secured their first Interprovincial championship 1210 in the final against Leinster at Mullingar last Saturday. It was a comprehensive set of results that saw them beat all three provinces in the League Section before qualifying for the final when they beat Ulster.

Surely the decision to allow Connacht Schools and Youths to combine has been of benefit to Connacht and the other provinces. For instance, it was two short years ago that Connacht did not even compete in the Schools Interprovincials. It makes for more and higher quality matches and a better prepared Connacht in both competitions.

There has, in the past, been disquiet at the lack of opportunity afforded to a select band of Connacht Schools players to progress beyond their provincial boundary.

For instance, former Coláiste Iognáid and current Connacht full-back Daniel Riordan, who was added to Ireland's Six Nations extended squad before being released later in the week, is a perfect example of a player with all the attributes required for the Ireland Schools who did not make it. In other words, a Connacht Schools player has to be vastly superior to his competitors from the other provinces to win promotion to national recognition.

Right or wrong, that is the perception on the other side of the Shannon.

The Irish Youths Committee were known to be unhappy that Connacht players would have the opportunity to play for the Ireland Schools as well as the Irish Youths.

It could mean the schools taking the best Connacht players away from the Youths. Thus, the Youths, the poorer relations, would be weakened further by the loss of their better players. Second, it would mean that Connacht Youths would have the advantage over the other three provinces in that they would be able to win Youths and Schools international caps.

This season, the Ireland Schools hierarchy were known to be interested in four Connacht players, namely O'Brien, Murphy, Gallen Community School prop Conor Higgins and Marist College wing Billy Henshaw.

The opportunity to match themselves against the best schools players on the island has been taken away from all four of them.

The twist comes in the fact that Murphy, as it stands, is not eligible to play for the Ireland Schools at a time when he does not play for his club Galwegians due to his commitment to the Leaving Certificate and Coláiste Iognáid.

Admittedly, the Irish Youths have always worked in the shadow of the Ireland Schools and the decision to allow Youths players to go forward for consideration for the Schools would only further weaken their capacity to compete in the Home Nations tournament, held at Easter.

As usual with these decisions, it is the players that suffer, some would say, for the greater good of the game, others, for the greater good of the few.

[Uncle Mort]

All representative rugby should be played at age level and there should be no distinction between schools and youths. But my views on Schools rugby have been well aired on these boards recently. Suffice it to say there are supporters of the schools system who are happy that it has got Irish Rugby to where it is today - that if affects those in Connacht will be of little concern to them, as long as they can continue to turn up and cheer on the old school in Donnybrook then they'll be happy.