Gordon D’Arcy
👤 SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
And Willie Anderson was there.
And when they changed, when Riff moved and it was Matty, just didn't have the same balance.
And then we went to Gariella, Declan Kidney.
There was just complete instability.
And that did come out on the pitch, I think, as well as players were at a certain point.
Then you start going, I got to look after myself here because you do.
You start going, OK, well, you know, I've got to play well for myself.
I've got to get a contract here thing.
And yeah.
Remember Leinster were guilty of that thing with Rob Carney, that meeting when he said, you know, Munster players wanted to play for Munster more than they wanted to play for Ireland.
Well, converse was some of the Leinster lads wanted to play for Ireland more than they wanted to play for Leinster around that time, which is a fair assessment when you look at all the instability that was happening in the background.
Whereas you look to Munster at that time, the early 2000s, when they were out there at the pump, very clear understanding of where they were going, what they were doing on the backfield.
So now you look at, say, Connacht,
Got Stuart Lancaster and he's a good fit for that club.
Players have responded to him.
The game plan they're playing.
They've got players attracted to the province now.
You know, Will Connors is going up there.
Kieran Frawley is going up.
So they're being attracted to Connacht.