Development Pathways

Yeah, look you're getting a bit upset in tone now because of your big reveal statement earlier:

So in the last 3 seasons Munster have promoted more players, who have more starts, more subs appearances and more minutes this season, and comparable average mins vs Leinster.

It turns out the only part that was actually true was the more sub appearances.

Frankly, it’s utter bullsh*t

You're right about this part though, I literally don't care anymore.

Denis Leamy effectively came out today and said something along the lines of what I said a few days ago that prompted this whole thing, namely that:

Denis Leamy said developing homegrown talent from within Munster should be the top priority.

...the province’s recruitment focus should focus on reinforcing the pipeline of exciting talent coming the academy

“We’ve got to grow our academy, we’ve got to get our own, we’ve got to get Munster-born players through"

“We see day to day the excellence. I worked with the Leinster academy for two years, a really, really strong production line, world class. I see very similar workings going on, on a daily basis and it gives me great hope that we can start to produce the Munster-born boy and get him into the jersey for 50, 100, 150 caps."

“That is ultimately what we want to do. We want to get indigenous players playing in a Munster jersey.”

Not so controversial when he says it though.

But, they don't have more minutes. Not when you exclude the SA A friendly game:

Munster: 159 total caps, 69 starts, 6,592 minutes

Leinster: 149 total caps, 86 starts, 7,026 minutes

Leinster actually have considerably more minutes (434) than Munster in this regard.

No, the best sign of Leinster's elite development versus the other provinces is probably the fact that 50% of the 32 players who made up the Grand Slam winning squad this year were products of the Leinster Academy (versus 15.6% Munster, 12.5% Ulster, 6.3% Connacht and the balance, 15.6% Overseas).

It's probably the fact that Leinster have the highest share of their squad developed from within their own academy (84% - 36 of 43 players) at a time when that squad is a perennial European contender and has topped the URC for well over half a decade - contrast this to Munster where 67% of the squad is academy produced (29 of 43 players), Connacht 46% (21 of 46 players) and Ulster 61% (30 of 49 players).

In fact, in the other provinces, apart from overseas players, the next biggest contributors in every scenario is the Leinster Academy: Munster (5 players - 12% - Carbery, Conway, Patterson, Beirne, Loughman), Connacht (9 players - 20% - Aungier, Dooley, Dowling, Thornbury, J Murphy, Daly, Farrell, Hawkshaw, A Byrne) and Ulster (4 players - 8% - Madigan, Cooney, J Murphy, Moore).

Yep, about as useful and insightful as all of your contributions on this thread so far, lol.

The most defensive Munster fan on this site is an Ulster fan, who'd have thought it.

No, we don't.

We agree if we accept your argument that somehow the development minutes in those games don't count, when of course they do.

Leinster manage to give more development minutes to players while simultaneously being the bulk supplier to the national team, winning 90%+ of their games and constantly competing for trophies. Given Leinster are competing on both fronts and stuffed with internationals, it ought to be harder to break into the Leinster team. The Leinster squad is predominantly produced by the Leinster academy (as, incidentally is 12% of the Munster squad, including your best player).

Spin that however you like in a way that you think is favourable to Munster, but I think I've said all there is to say on this topic.