Ireland’s performance in the Six Nations typically dips during World Cup years, often resulting in a finish in fourth or third place. However, this trend was broken by Andy Farrell’s squad this year, who succeeded in defending their Six Nations title. Now, as the provincial teams welcome their victorious players home, there will be a heightened awareness of the necessity for careful management, considering the demands a World Cup campaign places on players who are also battling to defend a Six Nations title.
Ireland competed in 13 Tests throughout the initial seven months of this season, with a group of main players participating in each of the ten competitive encounters. Top contributors have been Leinster, who supported Ireland’s World Cup team and Six Nations squad with 18 and 19 players, respectively.
Robbie Henshaw, along with James Lowe, Jamison Gibson-Park, Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan, Joe McCarthy, Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris, Ronan Kelleher, Ryan Baird, and Jack Conan represented Ireland in each game. Doris, similar to Lowe, was present throughout every minute of Ireland’s Six Nations campaign, delivering exceptional performance in all five major shifts. Additionally, James Ryan suffered from a torn bicep.
Reflecting on the situation, the substantial burden on Irish key players, most notably Leinster, may pose a challenge for Leo Cullen’s team in their pursuit of the Champions Cup this season, or any other silverware to break their three-year drought following two unsuccessful URC semi-finals campaigns at home. Leinster have had past success, retaining the Champions Cup in 2012 only to be defeated by the Ospreys by just a single point in the Pro12 final showdown.
Four years ago, Leinster managed to clinch the Pro14 title in a season impacted by Covid disruptions. However, their journey in the Champions Cup was less successful as they, along with Ulster, were knocked out in the quarter-finals while Munster didn’t even make it past the pool stages.
Four seasons before that, Leinster had a particularly difficult time, suffering their worst European outturn by losing five out of their six pool matches. They then also lost the Pro12 final in Murrayfield against a energy-filled Connacht team. This team was hardly affected by the World Cup and the Six Nations of that season.
It was clear how unaffected Connacht was when they, just as Leinster did, reached the quarter-finals of the Challenge Cup that season while neither Munster nor Ulster made it to the knockout stages of the Champions Cup.
The current season doesn’t look much promising either. Both Connacht and Ulster failed to make it to the round of 16 in the Champions Cup with Ulster not even making it to the Challenge Cup. Like the two, Munster only managed to win a single out of four pool matches and are due to face Northampton away in the round of 16.
Leinster have at least managed to secure themselves home ties in the Champions Cup right through to the finals. There’s a little caveat this time though, the finals this season will be played in Tottenham, not at Aviva Stadium as usual. As expected, they are also leading the URC.
However, the stress on several of Leinster’s international players, both psychological and physical, means winning a trophy, or even two, would be an even bigger achievement this season.