Would you agree that "Golden age" of Irish rugby is over?

No. We're only getting started.

some very successful under 20’s in the last couple of years… hopefully some of them will shine at international level…

Bit of a ridiculous question. In the last 18 months, we've been Six Nations winners twice, U20s Six Nations winners once, Munster have won the URC and Leinster have been in two Champions Cup Finals and agonisingly short of winning.

James Ryan was certainly never as described on the OP. We will still be there or thereabouts but SA will be strong forever now with their move to Europe, NZ will be strong, France will remain strong, England will eventually get their act together. Australia are basket case. How they're hosting 8 or so matches against the lions is beyond me. Argentina I'm unsure about, they peak and trough. Wales and Scotland don't have any depth or underage strength. Fiji if they were given a decent shot would be dangerous.

So, I can't see us dropping out of top 4 or 5 for a long time so we will remain competitive.

On the club side, we are insulated from the full strength of the french clubs because apart from Toulouse and 1 or 2 others, they prioritise top 14. English clubs will possibly regroup and be stronger with less top flight clubs vying for talent.

The noughties team were literally called "the golden generation" and I genuinely believe we had more talented players (well backs anyway) in the noughties than we do now. However we didn't have the depth or the team continuity.

Anyway, I digress. Its been a disappointing season domestically, but Ireland still won the 6Ns title at a canter so no it isn't the end of an era.

That said England will likely be stronger next season and France definitely will be with Dupont and Ntamacak back, but we play both at home. Domestically Leinster need a 10, Munster need some cutting edge in the backs, Ulster need to be properly coached and Connacht should see a lot more of Aki and Hansen next season which should strengthen them, let's see what happens.

there's one trend i've noticed with irish players. they often burst on to the scene, become known as world class, then deflate and spend the next few years a shadow of the short period of peak performance they once had.

Fundamentals are all good for Ireland. I think we've already seen that Ireland's fortunes are not indexed to the provinces and even of Leinster are in decline, which seems clear, Ireland aren't necessarily destined to follow. We won the 6N playing well for maybe half of it in a year when France were brutal and England took us to the cleaners, but we won. SA will tell us whether the Leinster contingent can compartmentalise as needed, though I didn't like seeing the scrum (ex Beirne) get owned by a 3rd tier staffer pack today.

The Golden generation was when Munster nearly won the Heineken Cup a few times, Leinster got to a Celtic League final.....BOD had bleached flowing hair, dated Glenda Gilson, wore hurling gloves and Ireland won the odd triple crown.....

Great times...

Results wise, yesterday was a bad day for Irish rugby but there's no reason why we can't go ahead and win the 6Ns again, we play England & France at home and we're away to Italy on the last day so we can guess what PD we may need and can plan accordingly

I think this wave is over. Leinster aren't reaching the highs they should with the talent they have, Munster losing some talent, Connacht being poor this year (granted MH injured for most of it) but Ulster resurgent. I think it will take a season of rebuilding for all four provinces and then we will start to see the wave rise again.

I hope the provinces and national coaches have a strategy for replacing Lowe, Aki, Furlong and others reaching the twilight of their careers.

Edit: just looked back at the age profile list near the start of the thread and I think there needs to be some serious national team preparation for the coming years.

No It wouldn't. The sport would evolve and in many ways be far far better if not so dominated at top level by a small number of fee paying schools past pupils

No idea why a thread about golden age has anything to do with private school, do private schools get mentioned on every thread on boards now ? :-)

Leinster got to the top of Europe 3 seasons in a row and in terms of consistency since Leo took over have to be the most consistent side in Europe, they might not have the trophies but they are nearly always in the semi/finals. Sarries/La Rochelle and even Toulouse over that period haven't been as consistent.

We just had a hugely successful period of U20 rugby, I remember the U20 games when Ireland would be hammered by France/England because we just couldn't compete with them, now we are winning 6 nations regular and getting to World Cup finals.

Munster/Connacht/Ulster seem to have got youth development in shape with Munster for instance having a great group of young players coming and some already in the team. Connacht have a number in the U20 squad which looks like real gems

Ireland will never be able to be a France or England, we don't have the amount of pro clubs. Leinster can never be a Toulouse and just buy the best young players from other provinces in Ireland like they did when they bought DuPont off Castres.

One thing we are missing in Irish rugby is raw speed, without Hansen this year it was a very slow backline. Even when we get speed like Bala we couldn't get him into the international team because he had had issues in other areas.

Nah, It'll have to be (at least) 3 in a row RWCs. Then we'll talk about the 'Platinum generation' 😊

"top level out half" a phrase fired out lots of times and then people can't actually answer what it is

Ross Byrne has got them to two European final

H Byrne has shown he has great potential but next year is a huge year for him

Predergast behind him looks good

In terms of another Sexton, no I doubt we will have another on of him anytime soon

Didn't say he was or wasn't, was just listing the players

Sorry *behind him was age wise

Absolutely. Won't be another Irish out half of the level of sexton for a while

For me, top level are players that any club, and most countries would want. if you look at the best international teams and clubs, how many would have taken sexton in a heartbeat, even up to a year or two before retirement ? How many would take RB? RB is solid, mostly dependable, but isn't in the top tier of out halves.

Without doubt RB would be first choice at a lot of clubs in Europe. But most clubs aren't at the level of successive finals and play offs. I think having an out half that is in the discussion for being in the top two or three in Europe is a huge step towards trophies. Not essential, but in the Irish system, without the ability to buy players to fill gaps like others can, and important piece of the puzzle.

Hopefully HB and Prendergast will reach the heights we want them to, and soon.

A silly bar but a good target.

Crowley is doing well, and long may that continue. He has done some clutch things, (spit, semi final drop goal, spit!!) and hopefully will continue to build control, nerves of steel, and game management. Hopefully himself and Prendergast will drive each other to great things.

RB has been dropped and brought back in before.

Perhaps it is a timing issue. Whoever came in to replace sexton was always likely going to be looked down on.

The thrust of that article is more that the Ireland players will be wrecked and we should have rested some of them.

Interestingly, he says we’ve failed to find a backup to Cian Healy in 15 seasons of trying, which must come as a surprise to Jack McGrath, Dave Kilcoyne and Andrew Porter.