Of all the players coming out of contract with the IRFU next summer, two stand out as men Ireland must, at all costs, keep.
Tadhg Furlong and Iain Henderson’s contract talks are not generating near as many headlines as Munster’s Peter O’Mahony or CJ Stander but they must be the union’s priorities.
Deals for Rory Best and Garry Ringrose are almost over the line and Tommy Bowe must decide if he wants to take a provincial contract with Ulster or see out his career abroad. Jared Payne’s contract talks are on hold until he gets back playing.
Ronan O’Gara was at the Aviva Stadium for TV3’s launch of their 2018 Six Nations coverage and he remarked upon how Ireland’s decision to axe the departing Simon Zebo from the Ireland squad took many by surprise in France. Ask if the prospect of signing an Irish player, who won’t be picked for Test duty, has been suddenly made more attractive, O’Gara replies:
“Massively, yep. There’s huge value in that because there is a game every weekend. There’s no travel. It’s hugely attractive to Top 14 coaches.
“But I think it took everyone by shock in France, that Irish players [like Zebo] would go because they don’t think Irish players would go.”
The IRFU only has so much money to spread around and the number of central contracts has dropped from close to 20, a couple of seasons ago, to around a dozen. O’Gara feels the tactic of ignoring Irish players plying their trade abroad may only work for so long.
“It’s a very changing landscape… You need your best players playing for Ireland and it’s going to come to a stage where there’s gonna be, in the next five years, guys playing for Ireland who aren’t playing for the provinces.
“We won’t have a acid test this summer, but maybe we might with Tadhg Furlong.”
Furlong, O’Gara suspects, could be the one player that Joe Schmidt would have to bend his rules for, although the Ireland coach does insist none of his selection decisions are hard and fast. The Wexford native is a truly world-class tight-head and was one of the first name on the Lions team-sheet in New Zealand last summer.
Were Furlong to leave, and there would be clubs in England and France queuing up for him, it would put Ireland in a tough spot. Henderson is another who has impressed with the Lions, his province and Ireland and who would also attract interest in France.
“Ulster can’t afford to lose him,” O’Gara declared. “He’s a very, very good player. We don’t need to be diluting our provinces. He’s as important to Ulster and Peter O’Mahony is to Munster.”
“Figures have to add up for players,” he noted. “If they don’t add up, they will be gone.”
