Ireland's foreign-based policy has prevented Simon Zebo from playing for Ireland since 2017 when he started all six Six Nations games. It's a policy that has some merit but could give Ireland the best of both worlds if tweaked slightly.
Simon Zebo played a starring role in Racing 92's Champions Cup Final appearance. He scored two tries and was a threat with the ball throughout. Just as importantly, he was also solid under the high ball and reliable in defence. It was the kind of performance that Racing expected to get when they lured him away from Munster.
It was the kind of performance that Ireland needed from Jacob Stockdale in Paris last weekend.
Ireland moved Stockdale from the wing to fullback because of Jordan Larmour's injury. It wasn't a new position for him. He'd played fullback for Ulster and came up through underage rugby as a fullback. But regardless of where he plays, Stockdale's problems still show up. He's missed too many bouncing balls and his mistakes have repeatedly been costly. At this point, the mistakes are consuming his value.
Stockdale is unlikely to start for Ireland against Wales. James Lowe is eligible to play and in line to make his debut. Keith Earls is back to full fitness. Hugo Keenan was more consistent in the final Six Nations games than Stockdale was and Andrew Conway is a certain starter. Andy Farrell will most likely start Lowe and Earls on the wings with Conway dropping into fullback. Keenan can cover both as an option off the bench.
Conway offers most of Stockdale's attacking prowess from fullback without his inevitable mistakes.
A back three of Conway, Earls and Lowe is world class. Ireland should be really excited about that group playing together. Still, the absence of Zebo lingers. His absence has cost Ireland over recent years. He was the country's best fullback even during Rob Kearney's final years and Jordan Larmour's recent emergence. And unlike Kearney, he also offered greater squad flexibility to play on the wing.
17 October 2019; Ex-Ireland Head coach Joe Schmidt, with Andy Farrell, left, and IRFU Performance Director David Nucifora. Photo by SportsfileZebo's absence, not to mention Donnacha Ryan's, may have been enforced by Joe Schmidt even if he remained in Munster but the fact he left Ireland shouldn't prevent him from playing for Ireland.
No foreign-based player has played for Ireland since David Nucifora became the IRFU's Performance Director in 2014. When Donnacha Ryan left first in 2017, there was no consideration to change the policy. It has prevented Ryan, Zebo and Ian Madigan most notably from playing for Ireland. Sean O'Brien is currently ineligible for Ireland but trying to force his way into Lions consideration playing for London Irish.
The argument for this policy is that it keeps provincial rugby in Ireland strong.
The problem is it hasn't. Provincial rugby in Ireland has struggled.
Leinster are strong but everyone else has been underwhelming for a while now. Munster's biggest achievements over the last decade are close losses to good teams, either in semi-finals of Europe or finals of the Pro 14. Munster haven't won either competition since 2011. Ulster have had less success with even fewer players involved with the Irish national team.
Connacht are barely a factor at the highest level of club rugby and need major investment to catch up.
If club success was as important to the IRFU as we're led to believe, then spreading the talent between the four provinces would be a greater priority. Having Leinster go undefeated in the Pro 14 while no Irish team reaches the final four of Europe is not a good thing. Leinster making up the majority of the current national squad and possessing most of the best young players coming through at club level doesn't help anyone's development.
At the same time as we have a glut of players bottlenecking into the Leinster team, we have Munster signing superstars to start from other nations. Those are great players and great signings who will elevate Munster but they're also taking away vital starting spots for young players to come through for Ireland. At the same time as the IRFU are forcing Irish players to stay in Ireland if they want to play for Ireland, they're taking away opportunities for players to play and develop.
If Irish players have to stay in Ireland to play for Ireland, it's counter-intuitive to fill their starting spots with foreigners. We only have four starting spots at each position at club level to develop Irish players through.
Furthermore, if someone like Zebo or Ryan plays for 10 years in Ireland and then leaves for France during his prime, the IRFU have invested all that time in those players and then lost out on a large chunk of the benefit of that investment.
Munster aren't better because Zebo and Ryan can't play for Ireland now. Young stars from Munster such as Ben Healy aren't staying exclusively because of their Ireland chances. Anyone who grew up in Munster as a rugby player is likely a Munster fanatic. Irish by birth, Munster by the grace of god. They're not just going to leave the first chance they get.
If the IRFU suddenly allowed foreign-based players to play for Ireland, there wouldn't be a mass exodus of Irish talent to foreign teams. Sure, there'd be some who would leave. But why not offset that by changing the rule. Why not give players criteria to meet before they can leave and still play for Ireland. Zebo as an example has 35 caps for Ireland and played for Munster until he was 27.
He's already an established international player when he leaves Ireland. Make that the rule. Say that if you get 20 caps for Ireland or play 100 times for your province, you can leave Ireland and still be eligible for selection. Whatever the specific numbers are, whether it's tied to appearances or to age, the IRFU can't continue to weaken the national team just to logjam players in the provinces.
That likely hurts the province as much as it hurts the national team. Moving on from older players who still start for Ireland is hard for clubs to do because they are still starting for Ireland. They're still starting for Ireland because Ireland have cut down their own national pool to chose from.
23 November 2019; Simon Zebo of Racing 92 at Thomond Park in Limerick. Photo by SportsfileMunster got 144 games in eight years from Zebo. That's great service and great value to club rugby in Ireland. Zebo left a little bit earlier than most are likely to for personal reasons. Using Ben Healy as a more typical example; He is still a developing rugby player. He's not close to starting for Ireland yet. He's trying to establish himself to become Ireland's starter eventually. His best route to doing that, independent of the IRFU's policy, is in Munster.
Should he become Ireland's first choice, he's not going to want to immediately uproot himself and disrupt his rugby when it's all coming together. Munster gives him the best chance to establish himself and then sustain success with Ireland. It's then on the IRFU to prioritize him in contract negotiations and keep him because of his importance to both province and country.
Running off to the money in France would mean learning a new team, a new culture and a new style. That wouldn't help Healy until he had fully established himself over a prolonged period for Munster and Ireland.
Having a threshold of international caps, club caps or age would also make it easier for Ireland to transition away from ageing stars. If Johnny Sexton was playing in France right now not only would Leinster be under more pressure to develop their young replacements, it would also be easier to move him into a backup role for Ireland. Sexton as the captain of Ireland and the locker room leader of Leinster undoubtedly impacts his standing with Ireland.
It's why his passion coming off the field in France became such an overblown story. He is the identity of Irish rugby at every level right now. He's bigger than the sport itself in this country through no fault of his own.
There are inherent benefits for home-based players hoping to play for Ireland. Those don't go away if the foreign-based players are allowed back in the squad. The policy only has leverage because players want to play for Ireland. The benefits of staying in Ireland will still appeal to players. It will still help the four provinces retain their best players. Those who leave might even benefit by learning from new cultures as players the way Ronan O'Gara has as a coach.
Even if it doesn't and some of our best players leave for a couple of seasons, Sexton spent three years in France and still has over 160 caps for Leinster.
Nobody at Leinster will argue they didn't get enough from Sexton's career.
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