Former Ireland lock Donncha O’Callaghan believes the current system has too many factors in Leinster’s favor.
The Dubliners are by far the strongest side in the country at the moment and the addition of RG Snyman next season will only make them even better.
Snyman’s contract has caused huge controversy, with Munster supporters in particular unhappy that he signed for their biggest rivals.
O’Callaghan is surprised that the Irish Rugby Football Union has allowed the move, as there are questions about the structure of the game in Ireland.
The former second-rower insists that the governing body “needs to be fair to all states” rather than allowing one team to dominate.
depriving an Irish player of his chance
“I can’t believe it was approved (by the IRFU) and how it was allowed. I would question the structure of the funding model,” said the former Munster second row said. RTE Sports.
“I watched the European Cup last week and the outstanding second row, apart from maybe Ian Henderson and Taj Beirne, was Jack Dunne from Exeter.
“But he is playing in England and we are allowing RG Snyman to take minutes away from the Irish players.
“It’s inconsistent with what we’re trying to do. We say we’re trying to develop a pathway for Irish players, but I think this is hindering that. It’s very frustrating.
“If you look at it in pure economics, I don’t think Munster can survive at this level. We’ve seen it happen in other sports, especially in Ireland, but in the end we won It will have a lot of power, but it will have to do with the economic structure that accounts for most of the wealth and money.”
Mr O’Callaghan is adamant that while maintaining central contracting is the best course of action, the system needs to be overhauled.
“If we continue the way we are, then of course the same goes for central contracts…If you look back when we had central contracts, there were far more contracts,” he said.
“We want our players to get as much money as possible. We know about the restrictions that are in the IRFU, but we need to be fair to all states.
“Of course you want Leinster to succeed. But this is a marquee signing. If they can outbid Bath and other teams around the world, that’s just flexing the money.”
The IRFU is reducing the number of central contracts it hands out to players, with former Leinster hooker Bernard Jackman admitting they are currently “lopsided” but saying: “Leinster are handing out a lot more central contracts.” added.
However, Jackman insists Munster must take responsibility for how they develop their team and improve their depth and quality.
“The core of the deal is for Munster to get better value out of it. We need to recruit, just like we did with our previous central signing Tadhg Beirne,” he said. .
“Oli Jaeger might take over Tadhg Furlong’s central contract. Or develop Jack Crowley or Brian Gleeson so they can get the next batch.
“The only way out of this situation is to hire or develop people.”
Sign a star player
Jackman believes bringing in Marky should also not have been taken off the table and feels Munster should have been given special dispensation to keep Snyman.
“We should be allowed to sign players of RG Snyman’s quality. We should go back to when we were signing Christian Cullen, Rocky Elsom and Luan Pienaar and that’s where we should be heading.” he added.
“I’m really disappointed that the Munster players had to tell RG Snyman they couldn’t keep him and the reason they had to tell him they couldn’t keep him was because of Gene. This is because Klin is once again a foreign player.
“The rules don’t allow you to have two non-Irish qualified players in the same position. I actually think the IRFU should overlook that and keep Snyman in Munster in this situation. think.
“It was an unusual situation and I can understand why they were hurt. I would let them go and replace RG Snyman with a world-class player in another position.
“These fans, as well as Leinster, Ulster and Connacht fans, deserve two or three big players to come and help make a difference.”
read more: Springbok lock RG Snyman forges ‘money before reputation’ with shock move to Leinster