AMBLING down from Haymarket to Murrayfield yesterday, we neutrals were carried along on a tide of Irish bonhomie and cheer. Nor was it just the boys from Dublin: as well as Leinster jerseys, there was more than a smattering of Munster red, Ulster white. It was the same afterwards, the fans from every province mingling in beery jubilation in the pubs of Rose Street.
The competition that has transformed rugby in Ireland from a backwater pastime to a remarkable sporting success story was given a new chapter yesterday in one of the most memorable afternoons in Irish sporting history. Not since Jackie Charlton brou
ght unexpected success to Ireland's football has one competition managed to galvanise the whole Irish nation. But then no other nation has taken this competition to their hearts so profoundly; has gained such succour from it, or brought so much passion and pride.
Leinster's win over Leicester marked yet another milestone in the relentlessly upward trajectory of Irish rugby. Surely it would be impossible to beat a season in which Munster and Leinster fought out an epic Heineken Cup semi-final in front of a world record crowd of 83,000 at Croke Park. In which Ireland won the first grand slam since 1948. In which Munster won the Magners League at a canter, while Brian O'Driscoll and Paul O'Connell slugged it out for the right to captain a Lions side stuffed full of Irishmen. After yesterday's win, Ireland's cup isn't so much overflowing as drowning in the black stuff.
Yet it wasn't always that way. Once upon a time Irish rugby was every bit as moribund as the game in Scotland, the preserve of the posh boys in Dublin, Cork and Belfast, with a few Limerick rough 'uns chucked in for good measure. When the game went professional, the club game was where it was at across the Irish Sea and the crowds for provincial games could comfortably fit in a bus. When a stand was being built at Leinster's ground in 1997-8, Leinster moved to Dooradoyle and played Munster in front of less than 300 fans.
Not that those risible numbers were unusual. When the four Scottish districts played their Irish counterparts in a round-robin tournament immediately after the game went open, the crowds struggled to make it out of three figures. Back in those days Scotland and Ireland had similar playing bases and similar crowd numbers. Scotland boasted the sort of record against Ireland that Rangers have against Hamilton.
The divergence over the last 12 years has been remarkable at every level. Only at club level has there been some sort of parity. Before yesterday Ulster and Munster had both won the Heineken Cup, while all three of the main provinces had also won the Magners League. Triple Crowns have become almost commonplace in the Six Nations. Only in the World Cup, where Ireland have failed to reach the knockout stages on two occasions do Scotland have a lead; and that's largely due to luck of the draw.
The reasons for Irish rugby's rise and Scotland's relative demise are down to circumstances, decisions taken by the unions and sheer luck. Ireland was blessed with luck in that it had four ready-made provinces which had been used to taking on touring teams. The damaging debate that stalled any development in Scotland simply didn't happen in Ireland. With virtually all Irish kids playing GAA, there was already a pool of youngsters who have played a handling, tackling code: Shane Horgan, Donncha O'Callaghan, Denis Leamy, Thomas O'Leary, Mick Galwey and Geordan Murphy all came to rugby from the Gaelic games. Nor is soccer an all-consuming passion in Ireland
Ireland have also been lucky to have the best generation of players since the Triple Crown-winning side of the early Eighties, and in Brian O'Driscoll the best match-winner since Mike Gibson a quarter of a century before. Luck has certainly played its part, but the IRFU has been shrewd. Each one of the provinces is only allowed four overseas players, and they have avoided the temptation to go for big-name match-winners, preferring instead to recruit players with big hearts and something still to prove. Yesterday's man of the match Rocky Elsom is the epitome of that policy.
Fans like winners and rugby has now assumed a place in Irish sporting life that seemed impossible to envisage ten years ago. Every Munster home game was sold out this season, no mean feat considering the capacity at Thomond Park is now over 25,000. Going to the game has become a social occasion and the number of kids playing rugby has gone off the Richter scale.
That enthusiasm has become infectious. Munster sold 90,000 replica jerseys last season and Leinster hope to make it to 100,000 this season. That's kept the tills ringing, given them the pick of overseas players. Success has become a habit, a self-fulfilling prophecy.
The end result was yesterday. Another victory for Ireland. If they didn't deserve it so richly, it would almost be enough to make you just a little jealous.
The full article contains 864 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
