Paul O'Connell says he understands the frustrations of some supporters that Ireland’s squad is too heavily populated by Leinster players, but insists that he and the Ireland management will never pick a player based on who they play for.
Ireland’s 36-man squad for the Guinness Six Nations was once again dominated by Leinster players, with 23 players selected from the URC leaders, and just five each from Connacht and Munster, as well as three from Ulster.
When Ireland take on England next Saturday in their Guinness Six Nations opener at Aviva Stadium, between 10 and 12 of the starting team are likely to Leinster’s, while the majority of the bench will also be from Leo Cullen’s side.
It was put to O’Connell on Friday that there is a "perception" out there in the Irish rugby public that when it comes down to the marginal selection decisions, the Irish coaching staff lean favourably towards the province.
"I understand the perception, but it's never entered the conversation," the Ireland forwards coach (below) insisted, speaking from the team’s Algarve training camp.
"50/50s are really hard, there's always a bit of gut on it. A 50/50 is never decided on 'oh, he plays with such and such a player with his province’. We've never had that conversation.
"We're aware of it, that Leinster are very strong and win a lot of their games. We always talk when we're giving a player a chance that we want to give him a chance in a good team, to perform.
"Generally, when you get a chance with Leinster at the moment you get a chance in a good team. At the same time, I'm obviously an ex-Munster man and we'd plenty of tough battles with Leinster over the years."
While the blue domination of the Irish squad has been a talking point for several years, the recent Six Nations squad announcement did drive the conversation on. Supporters of other provinces highlighted how Leinster centre Hugh Cooney (below) had been included as a development player in the squad, despite playing just two games in the URC this season, while others who had more experience had been left out.
While not addressing Cooney’s selection directly, O’Connell stressed that they remain open minded when choosing their squads.
"We've never actually not selected a Leinster person because we're worried we've too many Leinster players in the squad, and we've never selected a player because we felt that 'he's playing with Leinster and he has a combination [with somebody else]', you know?
"We're trying to pick the best players for the team, the best players that play the best for us and make the team feel good, prepare well and be in the best place to perform.
"I'm not overly aware of it [the perception of Leinster favouritism], now that you're asking me it must be bigger than I realised.
"But it's not frustrating at all, I would always have a very clear conscience about selection, that we're doing the right thing. We don't always get it right, that's the thing," he added.
While Ireland head coach Andy Farrell is currently away on British and Irish Lions duty, Simon Easterby is filling in temporarily, and there has also been a major change in the England setup since Ireland lost at Twickenham last year, with the departure of Felix Jones.
The former Ireland international, who won two World Cups as part of South Africa’s coaching group in 2019 and 2023, left Steve Borthwick’s ticket after their summer Test series in New Zealand, just eight months into his job as defence coach.
While Jones (above) officially parted ways with the RFU in December, he’s unable to link up with a major Test nation until after the Six Nations, and is expected to be part of Farrell’s coaching team for the Lions this summer.
And while O’Connell says he has been speaking in recent months to his former Munster team-mate, it was strictly in a personal capacity.
"Felix is very honourable in that way. It’s incredible. I’ve spoken to him, and I’d be hoping he’d volunteer something [about England] to me but I haven’t asked him and I didn’t want to put him in a difficult position by asking.
"I know he’s left and whatever happened happened, but he’d be very honorable in that way. He wouldn’t be sharing the playbook or anything, so the briefest of chats.
"I think Goodie [Ireland attack coach Andrew Goodman] has spoken to him more. Both their kids play together down at Seapoint," O’Connell added.
As opening games go for Ireland, it doesn't get much bigger than a meeting with England at the Aviva.
And while O’Connell says it will always be a game that triggers emotion in the Irish players, this current group can channel that emotional energy better than teams he played in.
"It’s always very big for an Irishman in particular [playing against England].
"I think we’ve been very good at, not taking the emotion out of it because that’s a really important part of how we perform as Irish people, but we’ve been very good maybe using that emotion in the right way in the last few years.
"We ask a lot of our players, we don’t want emotion to get in the way. You want it to be the icing on the cake, not the whole cake and I think we’ve bene good at that.
"They focus very much on their performance, not on their performance just for the particular team they’re playing and that’s served us well over the last number of years."
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