Good relationship?

We were getting on great until our presence in the top 6 nearly meant munster missing out on Europe. They see us as a development province only imo and any threat to the big two will see the knees cut out from under us. I'd say this had a big part in Pat Lam deciding to move on too as our recruitment in the summer was simply not good enough.

You think them "allowing" us to have a head coach is proof of a good relationship? Were they going to deny us a head coach? 11 internationals in our squad, less than half any of the other provinces!

Podge57 wrote: I largely agree with you! The IRFU will do all they can to secure European Cup success for Munster & Leinster and secure subsequent windfall of which we will benefit!

Personally I feel we are doing ok with the IRFU and my sense of it is we have a good relationship and are getting our share and will get more!. New head coach being a case in point!

That's 100% spot on. I also have no doubt the IRFU will assist with the new/redeveloped stadium, but that ball is still with Connacht right now.

I largely agree with you! The IRFU will do all they can to secure European Cup success for Munster & Leinster and secure subsequent windfall of which we will benefit!

Personally I feel we are doing ok with the IRFU and my sense of it is we have a good relationship and are getting our share and will get more!. New head coach being a case in point!

Am I the only one that doesn't think Connacht are being treated unfairly by the IRFU ?, and I'm being serious here.

it's even more biased when you consider that Munster have been bailed out by the IRFU for their new stadium loan repayments

salmson wrote: Far be it from me to mend the chip or dent the paranoia, but has anyone checked the number of senior pros listed by the 4 provinces?

=1 Connacht, Ulster 47
2 Munster 42 (+1 incoming)
3 Leinster 41

There are some areas where the IRFU treats Connacht scandalously - our lack of a single central contract, which effectively means the other 3 provinces have access to some funding/a subsidy we don't, is to my mind chief amongst them - but I can't see myself getting too exercised about an undersized Saffir squad filler arriving in Limerick.

As for the Mitch Lam thing, we only know that (1) initially we were bringing in nobody because we had no budget left (2) bringing Mitch in for free* was vetoed by the IRFU as they wanted us to sign Irish players (3) we subsequently signed Crosbie in Lam's position, and others, presumably with funding from the IRFU, unless we've found a secret sugardaddy.

* free is at least partially bull, the insurance bill for an academy player is 2 grand p/a

Will you go on out of that Salmson? We have a bunch of kids and untried players making up the majority of our squad.

Leinster 28 internationals
Munster 22 +1 incoming, but sure we'll write off the debt on that new stadium so you can keep signing internationals as we're building the same for connacht next year.
Ulster 22
Connacht 11!

We have a bunch of kids hence we get more injuries. We get all the dregs fobbed off on us and when they get injured we're told we can't sign replacements? You think there is no agenda there?

Lies, damn lies and statistics

RogueXV wrote: Salmson, would you go on with your facts and figures. It's a new world and they are of dubious value. Just because we're paranoid doesn't mean the IRFU isn't after us.

Robbie bugged Pat's office before he left, and Andress and Cannon are double agents. That's the season explained to me, cheers!

Salmson, would you go on with your facts and figures. It's a new world and they are of dubious value. Just because we're paranoid doesn't mean the IRFU isn't after us.

Far be it from me to mend the chip or dent the paranoia, but has anyone checked the number of senior pros listed by the 4 provinces?

=1 Connacht, Ulster 47
2 Munster 42 (+1 incoming)
3 Leinster 41

There are some areas where the IRFU treats Connacht scandalously - our lack of a single central contract, which effectively means the other 3 provinces have access to some funding/a subsidy we don't, is to my mind chief amongst them - but I can't see myself getting too exercised about an undersized Saffir squad filler arriving in Limerick.

As for the Mitch Lam thing, we only know that (1) initially we were bringing in nobody because we had no budget left (2) bringing Mitch in for free* was vetoed by the IRFU as they wanted us to sign Irish players (3) we subsequently signed Crosbie in Lam's position, and others, presumably with funding from the IRFU, unless we've found a secret sugardaddy.

* free is at least partially bull, the insurance bill for an academy player is 2 grand p/a

Monkeys locked in a cage seems a very good analogy in this situation. The IRFU have a long history of discriminatory treatment very much in favour of Leinster & Munster to the detriment of Connacht & also Ulster. Heavily biased decisions are regularly made without any fear of criticism or any other potential backlash their decisions may bring because basically they don't really care who disagrees as nobody is in a position to properly speak out or put up any kind of fight in search of parity. Both the CBIRFU and UBIRFU are in no position to speak out against their own employers for fear of further retribution and even when someone is in a position to speak out as in the case of Pat Lam and Ruan Pienaar (Both will soon no longer be employed by IRFU so they don't fear any backlash for comments they make), some sections of the media run the stories, people read it and talk for a short time about how unfair it all is but the net result is the IRFU don't give a monkeys what anyone in Connacht or Ulster think. I suppose it's shame on us for ever thinking that this was a democracy.

Keep getting this scenario in my head when queries regarding comparisons to what other provinces get/don't get arise!

FACECUTTR wrote: We are all equal but some are more equal than others....

It's just the lack of consistency and transparency that frustrates me.

Why were Leinster allowed keep Nacewa but Ulster not allowed keep Pienaar?

Why were Munster allowed bring in Taute, Toma, and Deysel as injury cover but Connacht and Ulster were denied injury cover for Boshoff and Coetzee respectively?

Why were Munster allowed keep Taute after Saili had returned from injury?

Why were Leinster allowed replace Kirchner and Triggs with Fardy and Lowe despite player succession rules? Same with Connacht and Boshoff replacing MacGinty.

Are Connacht still exempt from NIQ rules?

We are all equal but some are more equal than others....

www.the42.ie/munster-sign-jean-deysel-3291157-Mar2017/#comments

Good for Munster but it's hard to understand why we weren't allowed bring in Mitch Lam in the context of decisions like this

Cormac Brennan can be added to centres, think he's injured too.

Yes