Look, I'm not saying the whole Limerick Rugby side of things doesn't deserve a mention, but I think the extent to which "Limerick: Munster's problem child" has been about the most discussed talking point on Munster's youth development over the last while is puzzling.

I say this because I think there's a definite pattern of what Munster are looking to focus on in terms of player development that's going missed.

What is this pattern I hear none of you ask? I think there's a concerted effort being made by Munster to get better players involved in their development structures by getting players from a broader range of backgrounds involved.

There's a report here that I think does a good job of highlighting certain things: https://www.esri.ie/system/files/publications/RS97_0.pdf One thing it does highlight is that there is a strong and consistent relationship between socio-economic status and participation in rugby.

It does, however, state that Munster does have better participation rates in rugby than the other provinces and suggests that might be down to Munster having a broader range of people from different socio-economic backgrounds involved.

Certainly when you look at the academy you'd notice a pretty wide range of geographic areas being represented, with Clare being the only county in Munster without someone in there. It'd certainly make you think that Munster are casting their gaze a bit wider in terms of talent id

I don't think Munster are just changing their approach to talent id either. You look at the clubs select team that went into the schools cup, or appointing Mike Pettman to improve skills coaching across the province or the online coaching resources they've put up recently,

I think you maybe start to see a wider effort to improve access to pathways across the province. And when I look at the current academy intake, I think we're already seeing fruits being borne from that kind of approach. But I guess Limerick in crisis just sells that bit better.