Bernard Jackman’s ominous warning to Leinster after James Lowe’s exit: ‘It’s very hard to justify bringing Ioane or Barrett in’

Bernard Jackman has warned Leinster that big-name players could leave the club if James Lowe’s contract situation was handled poorly.

Earlier this week, Leinster announced the departure of their all-time top try-scorer, with his contract expiring at the end of the season. The possibility of Lowe leaving the Dubliners arose last month, news that stunned many fans and pundits considering his importance to Leinster and Ireland in recent seasons.

The British and Irish Lions winger has since been linked with a move to Japan Rugby League One side Tokyo Sungoliath, filling Cheslin Kolbe’s void at the club with the Springboks star returning to the Stormers.

Change in the way the IRFU contribute to player salaries

According to former Ireland and Leinster hooker Jackman, the offer for him to move to Japan wasn’t even on the table when Lowe’s contract situation played out.

Speaking on the RTE Rugby Podcast, he explained how the IRFU’s central contracting system is going through changes which will stretch Leinster’s finances as they cover a high percentage of the Ireland internationals’ salaries going forward.

“There are a couple of things at play here because the central contracting model has changed in that it used to be 100% from the IRFU,” Jackman explained.

“So Leinster, with so many central contracts, had free players to a certain extent. Obviously there were limitations around when they could play, but that was a huge boost to Leinster because then their own revenue went into trying to keep the next crop of future internationals or to the foreign players.

“Then they looked at that, and then they decided 30% will be paid by the province. So obviously that’s a big chunk for Leinster to pay because there are so many [Ireland internationals], and next year or quite soon it goes to 40%, which is my understanding. So that’s another 10% on top of your Caelan Doris, James Ryan, etc and Leinster have double digits of them.”

In the case of Lowe, the winger has never been on a full IRFU central contract. Instead, he has been part of the Player of National Interest scheme [PONI] where the province contracts the player, and the IRFU makes contributions.

James Lowe’s emotional first words as Leinster exit confirmed: ‘Man, where do I begin?’

How James Lowe’s deal fell apart

According to Jackman, this is where a possible extension for the outside back fell apart, as the IRFU was no longer going to top up his deal and was relying on Leinster to keep Lowe in Ireland. Ultimately, that is a tough sell for Leinster considering Lowe’s injury profile – he has played just nine times for the side this season – and the fact that he would still be unavailable due to international commitments.

“It’s obviously quite a bit of money that Leinster now have to fund themselves. Outside of the central contracts and PONIs… Simon Zebo’s return from Racing 92 had some kind of additional top-up from the IRFU to get that deal done. It has been a way to get a bit creative to get deals done, but I don’t know who is to blame here,” he continued.

“James is the kind of fella who will tell it as it is when he’s leaving, which will be interesting to get his take on it but something has happened that has gone pear-shaped where he didn’t feel respected, or he felt let down by how it played out.

“The rumour is that there’s no PONI anymore, so that bridge as such was gone, and obviously that drastically reduced the number that he would earn. That dragged on and on. If he’s going to Japan, which certainly seems to be the strong rumour at the moment, I think Toulon were in for him; look, there will be lots of clubs in for him, but I think Toulon was likely destination and it seems Cheslin Kolbe going back to Stormers has opened up a contract in Tokyo, which he now will take. It will obviously be very lucrative.

“This deal was gone before that Japanese offer came in. It was just there was a massive difference in opinion around values, etc.”

Luke Fitzgerald hits out at ‘short-sighted’ IRFU over ‘very unusual’ James Lowe contract stand-off

Jackman warns Leinster, more could leave

While Jackman was sympathetic to Leinster’s situation, he did highlight that they are moving several high-profile players off their payroll and should be increasing their revenues when they return to the RDS Arena.

“Leinster will obviously not take any blame on this because they’ll feel that they did right. It’s very hard to justify bringing Rieko Ioane or Jordie Barrett in and not be able to keep James Lowe, regardless of the PONI contribution or not. That’ll be the challenge for Leinster,” he continued before issuing his warning to the club.

“Obviously, they had to make a decision, and they’re working on their constrained budget and probably at the time when their need to pay central contracts goes up 10%. Their crowds are down 30%. Leinster’s financial picture for next year certainly wouldn’t be as positive.

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“They’re going back to the RDS, and that’s great, and hopefully that drives more revenue, but I’d say it’s the worst possible timing from a financial point of view; but having said that, they’re saving a significant amount of money on Rabah [Slimani], Rieko [Ioane], Will Connors, Ciaran Frawley, and Luke McGrath. So there’s quite a bit of money that’s not going to be spent on players next year that will go back towards paying that extra 10%. It does happen; we’re not used to it happening in Ireland.

“It’s probably a case study. If the frustrations that are out there are made public, it’ll probably give us a good insight into the process and how it plays out. I do think, though, you have to be careful; loyalty in professional sport isn’t always that common, but certainly players are always watching what happens to their brothers.

“There will be two sides of the story. If it hasn’t been handled correctly, it just creates a little bit of doubt with the players who are still here and their prospects when their time comes, and that’s not ideal.”

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