Peter O’Mahony weighs in on Leinster ‘favouritism’ accusation and whether it is a ‘fair fight’
Peter O'Mahony in action for Munster v Leinster and Leinster head coach Leo Cullen.
Munster legend Peter O’Mahony bears no grudge towards arch-rivals Leinster’s dominance but admits the IRFU do have a certain responsibility to even up the playing field.
O’Mahony’s old side were once the main force in Ireland, claiming Heineken Cup wins in 2006 and 2008, but they have since been usurped by the Dublin-based outfit.
The majority of Ireland’s centrally contracted players come from Leinster, and the governing body has been accused of favouring Leo Cullen’s men.
Smaller player pool
It is a bone of contention for their rivals, but O’Mahony started off by stating that it is simply a case of population and player numbers.
“It’s like asking me if more people should be living in Limerick or Cork compared to Dublin. It’s a very technical question,” he said on The Good, The Bad and The Rugby podcast.
“The club that I started playing with, there was a big chunk of them that had to move to Dublin to get a job, so they all ended up playing for Clontarf.
“There’s 1.5 million people living in Dublin. I don’t know what the total capacity of Munster is, but it’s a lot less than Dublin, never mind Leinster.
“Straight away your playing pool is much, much smaller. The majority of the wealth in the country is in Dublin – there are schools up there that are being like rugby academies that you don’t have the capacity to do in Munster at the moment.
“The club game is being dominated by Leinster because, again, all the players are in Leinster. Our first division has 10 teams, I think seven or eight of them this year are based in Leinster.
“It’s a very difficult question, is it a fair fight?”
The IRFU’s role
Discussion then shifted onto the role of the IRFU and whether they can do more to help the other teams with Leinster having such a big squad.
After all, not every player can feature and, particularly in big games, they will be reserved for their very best individuals.
It can take a while for young players to break through and into that team, and O’Mahony ‘agreed’ that the governing body could help the other provinces in evening out the numbers.
However, the Ireland legend also insists that it is ultimately up to the players themselves to make that decision.
“There’s so many good players in Leinster and there has to be a point where some of them have to say: ‘Do I want to play for Ireland? Do I want to chase down stuff or am I happy enough staying here and potentially getting a couple of European Cup medals?’” he said.
“That’s a nice thing to have on your belt, or do you go after it, go somewhere else and try and chase down a starting spot, and potentially play for Ireland?
“You can’t force anyone to leave, you can’t do that. The IRFU are very good with keeping players in Ireland, but unless they have an appetite to go as well, you can’t force them to go to the other side of it.”
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