It’s a sign of the times that the more the IRFU open up to a policy of transparency, the less shocked we are when they want to keep a secret. Ireland and the four provinces move in increasingly wider circles year on year, the national team sell-out every home appearance, five or six times each year, and tickets are more expensive and harder than ever to get. Leinster averaged over 23,275 fans across 17 2024/25 home games; mid-slump Munster averaged 16,750 in 2025/26; Ulster averaged
12,500 since the Ravenhill rebuild; Connacht’s Dexcom rebuild has seen them pass 7,000. Take the case of the Union, the coach, the provinces and the player – in this case James Lowe. The Union is the ultimate arbiter of who plays rugby in Ireland and who is eligible for selection for Ireland; the ‘rule’ about players playing for foreign clubs isn’t written down anywhere. It is a notional credo , a line in the sand that has been crossed before in the cases of Johnny
Sexton and Tommy Bowe. The National Coach Andy Farrell, under the IRFU pyramid system at least, must adhere to this. He signed a contract extension to 2031 in June and agreeing to this stipulation can be taken as a certainty – for now, at least. Put under pressure about Lowe at yesterday’s team announcement in Sydney, Farrell’s reply didn’t exactly close the door on a ‘special’ RWC2027 rethink all the same “Well, you know we’ve held the line with that for many, many years and
whatever, but you know, we’ll see how that plays out in the next 12 months. “If we don’t develop someone and bring someone through, I mean, push come to shove, we probably could have brought him out here, but is it the right thing to do to try and develop someone and give people a chance? “I think it’s the right thing to do, to have a look and give people a bit of space to be able to do that, so we’ll see how
that goes.” Leinster haven’t overtly signalled why Lowe wasn’t on their 2025/26 wishlist but there is a feeling their ‘Moneyball Dept’ was looking at the number of games Lowe was playing in Blue season by season. One of their highest-paid players, on circa €200k per annum, he had played just 56 Leinster games alongside 45 Ireland games in the last six seasons. Also, Tommy O’Brien finally emerged from his injury shadow, Jimmy O’Brien was an Ireland squad regular, Jordan Larmour is fit again and JJ
Kenny came as ‘gift’ from the abandoned Seven programme. The feeling was, as Lowe was not on a central contract, this wasn’t what even elementary sabermetrics would call value for money. Certainly Leinster held firm – and they would have known Andy Farrell preferred the 33 year-old to remain in Ireland. And while the other provinces have kept their counsel, at least two according to Mirrorsport sources made an inquiry but couldn’t match the first up hurdle of Lowe’s wage demand. The answer from the
third province Mirrorsport contacted was more circumspect but suggests they would have needed an IRFU intervention as their budget had been all but maxxed out. This, in turn, fits with the Brian O’Driscoll/AN Other narrative in that by the time the offer of a private investor was floated to Leinster via the Irish legend, Lowe was already committed to moving. BOD used the phrase ‘too late’ here. Most likely true as the whole Lowe saga was done without much transparency or, indeed, clear explanation after
the event. Sometimes you can’t always get what you want: Farrell didn’t get what he seemed to want last March, Leinster wanted more financial aid from the IRFU, three provinces would have taken the winger, and a private donor wanted to bridge the cash gap. “Wanted, yeah, and hoping and all of those things,” said Farrell of the thinking around the idea he was using Lowe in the 2026 Six Nations. “That’s not to say that it’s definitely going to happen. A lot of things
have to happen and align to get to that point, and unfortunately it didn’t happen that way. “I’m disappointed for us. He’s a larger-than-life character and he’s a brilliant player, but we all know sport, the ins-and-outs and the intricacies of all of that. “They become complicated from time to time and sometimes it works out, most of the time it works out for us, fortunately, but this time, obviously it didn’t. I know James is delighted with the contract he got in the end
and he’s onto a new venture.” Click here to sign up to our sport newsletter, bringing you the top stories and biggest headlines from Ireland and beyond
James Lowe, Andy Farrell, Ireland rugby, IRFU, Leinster, eligibility rules, RWC2027, Six Nations, Johnny Sexton, Tommy Bowe, Brian O'Driscoll