Which goes to show, it wasnât a âLeinsterâ or âUlsterâ bias, it was Brian Ashton and then Warren Gatland thinking Irish based players werenât up to it. Thinking that the granny rule that brought the Eire soccer team to the top table could work for rugby. Thankfully through design the IRFU got rugby moving the right way by investing in rugby in the provinces.
You could feel a shift in the Irish rugby around '99 though. I think it was that year that Davie Humpries missed a sitter to beat France. Ulster won the Heineken Cup that year as well of course, even if the English clubs werenât involved. There was excitement surrounding the strong Blackrock College dream team, Pres Cork, CBC Cork contingents who had won Ireland an underage World Cup. Though the World Cup was a low point things were beginning to improve.
Some great days from then onwards. Foleys little pop to Keith Wood for that famous try to deny England the Grand Slam was my favourite ever moment at an Ireland match (forget the twee nonsense surrounding the 2007 game).
The high point for provincial rugby was 2012 by the way @mickee321. Two Irish sides in the final and Munster were in the quarters.
I tackled him about the disrespect he showed to our Head of State and he suggested it was time the Irish bloody well got over that incident. That was fair enough I thought.
This was the last time I attended a rugby union international in which Ireland were playing.
The Ulster thing was a flash in the pan though and didnât really have any knock on benefits for the Irish team, whereas the Munster thing clearly did.
âThe family of Anthony Foley wishes to extend its deepest appreciation to the endless legions of friends and the wider rugby family here and abroad for the huge outpouring of support and sympathy since Anthonyâs tragic and most untimely passing at the weekend.â
âWith Anthonyâs passing, we have ultimately lost an amazing, adoring and loving father and husband; an equally caring, loyal and devoted son and brother; a central and go-to figure for the wider Foley and Hogan families. Our anguish at the sudden loss of Anthony is bottomless. We have been plunged deep into an incomprehensible darkness and sense of loss that we must work our way through over the coming days, weeks, months and years.â
âWe know, too, that his sudden death has brought the rugby worlds of Shannon RFC, Munster, Ireland and much further afield crashing down. You have lost a former player, coach, friend and all-round inspiration â your and our hero both. We mourn his loss together.â
âWe again wish to thank everyone for their support; it will help carry us through these darkest days.â
âWith regard to media, we thank you also for the sensitive way in which you have paid tribute to Anthony since the weekend but we do ask that our privacy and that of his close friends be respected over this tragic period.â