Gerry Thornley

His number one KPI is to produce players for Ireland.

That's his primary goal.

That's what he's employed by the RFU to do.

And I bet you, if you ask David Humphries, he'd say he's fulfilling what he's meant to do in many respects.

And he's got to a Champions Cup final.

Does everybody else get a free pass for not getting in with a massive roar of a Champions Cup final?

You know what I mean?

I hope they come back and rebound back and come close again.

But I do feel that they're getting further away.

And today was, like I said at the start, very sobering reality check.

They're the best league in the world by distance.

It generates the most money.

The latest from a couple of years' time onwards is eye-watering.

What's more, the reason that game kicked off at 3.45 local time today is because it's live, free-to-air on France TV.

This match is not even live and free-to-air in Ireland.

Well, that doesn't count.

The reality is that doesn't count.

Every week in the top 14 or in the Champions Cup, there is one or two matches live on France TV free to air, despite a multi-million dollar, multi-million euro deal with Canal Plus.

Apart from TGK, none of the provinces are on terrestrial television at all anymore.

On top of which, you then get atmosphere and matches like that.