Caolán Scully

In a time of million-dollar questions as we prepare for the FIFA World Cup, this is just the latest one of many million-dollar questions.

I think there is credence in following certain things that Irish rugby does, but I think the number one

barrier to that is plain and simple Super Rugby is played out of what is it like 17 games in 20 weeks or something like that like it's a pretty short succession whereas the Irish calendar starts in mid-September including pre-season and runs until mid-June it's not replicable there's a reason why the system is in place the way it is and it's predominantly player welfare and the second part to that as well is we have our big international games in the middle of the club season years is at the

end or whatever whatever flow you want to put i think i think you see it as the end of season so it is very different i think there's certain parts of it which are important central contracting you know is is never a bad thing england to follow that model i think the number of you know non-national team qualified players for lack of a better term so players who can't play for new zealand there's definitely credence in that as well to a certain degree

But I think that more than every system, it has its faults.

You know, like Irish rugby has about 5% of all players who are non-eligible to play for Ireland.

And you can definitely make a case that has made the provinces weaker because I've just watched a season where some of the best players in Ireland were Sean Jansen, who was a kind of second stringer at Leicester Tigers.

Seamus Hurley-Langton, who was an NPC player.

Sam Gilbert was an NPC player.

Even Ben O'Donovan at 23-24 came up to Ireland and instantly became the backup at Munster.

after a couple of weeks, haven't not even played super rugby.

So as much as you can look at Ireland and say, we're doing a lot of things well, someone like me could look at New Zealand rugby and say, well, they still have the players.

They still have the guys that I'd love to sign and hope there's a couple of Irish grandparents.

So more than everything else, it's really the eyes of the beholder, isn't it?

Yeah, I'm not going to promos New Zealand rugby fans and pretend they don't know what they're talking about.

Everyone knows that Ireland rugby isn't the biggest sport in Ireland.

Football is still a massive imprint.

GEA is the national pastime.

So that's a factor.

But ultimately, the trap that Irish rugby has fallen into in recent years is that it is very schools rugby orientated.