Bernard Jackman and Trevor Hogan believe recent results in Europe highlights the growing gap between the elite French and English clubs and the Irish provinces.
After chastening weekend defeats for Munster and Ulster in their Champions Cup pools, Leinster are the only Irish side with a chance of reaching the knockout stages.
"You still have to look at it as a whole and think that this is one of the darkest years in the European Cup for Irish teams that we've ever had," said Trevor on Off The Ball tonight.
And Trevor also believes that the downturn at club level could also seep into the international setup heading into the Six Nations.
"I don't think it's going to be immune. It's going to have a knock-on. It's going to be a bigger challenge for that Irish camp now, just to regroup."
Trevor also feels that England appear to have more depth than Ireland especially with injuries, although Bernard said he disagreed with that and feels the issue might be more related to the quality of foreign player available to the provinces in comparison to past seasons.
The two also discussed the idea of relaxing the rules to allow more foreign players to be acquired.
However, the Grenoble head coach also notes a growing gap between the wealthy European clubs and the provinces.
"You have to wonder if there is a growing gulf. Are the Irish provinces just slipping a little bit? Leinster have a good chance of qualifying but just seeing what happened to Ulster at the weekend ... things will always be cyclical," he said.
"Munster will always be competitive in Europe but at the moment would you say that they were contenders to win it? Probably not, to be honest with you Ulster are a long way off as well. Even Leinster, at the moment, you wouldn't say they're in the Top 4 sides. There's a bit of a gap at the moment."
Trevor put Munster's defeat against Saracens down to "individual errors" and a "lack of aggression", while Bernard feels Anthony Foley's men are too reliant on CJ Stander's ball-carrying ability.
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