Here are some of the Ireland internationals out of contract next summer:
- Peter O’Mahony
- CJ Stander
- Rory Best
- Rob Kearney
- Iain Henderson
- Jared Payne
- Kieran Marmion
- Tommy Bowe
It is no mistake that the IRFU has a number of contracts for high-profile players expiring in June 2018.
The World Cup is coming up in September and October 2019 and that is the massive carrot they are dangling. They know each and every player will be desperate to play in the World Cup and that knowledge means they can offer a little less than the player may be expecting.
They are not egregiously low-balling these players, just not offering as much as the player is hoping for [or feel they deserve].
O’Mahony and Stander must be looked upon as priority cases, with Iain Henderson next. Rory Best would not be far behind but the union is much more confident that the Ireland captain will not be upping his sizeable roots in Ulster to head off to France or England.
Henderson has been getting a taste of captaincy with Ireland while Stander is revelling in the increasingly responsibility bestowed on him by Joe Schmidt and was honoured to led the team for the final 20 minutes of the Test win over Fiji.
Getting a deal for O’Mahony over the line is more complicated. The Munster captain’s partner, Jessica, has family ties in France and, according to The Irish Times, two French clubs and one English side are actively looking at bringing him in, if a deal can be struck.
Given O’Mahony would be close to 29 next June and has had a couple of injury issues in recent seasons, the union are unlikely to go far beyond a flat annual salary of €400,000 [with bonus payments and sponsorship agreements as extra]. The French and English clubs could offer him close to double that annual salary but it could mean the end of his Ireland career.
Former Munster director of rugby Rassie Erasmus told us, last month, that Simon Zebo had been offered almost three times what the IRFU had during his contract talks. Asked if Munster was resigned to losing top talents every year, he replied, “I think all clubs are currently.
“All clubs that don’t have private owners struggle because obviously there are restrictions and a lot of other things.
“Club players who are selected for Ireland must play in Ireland but it seems to be different when you are playing in France so I just think if you don’t have a club owner you won’t have those big bucks.”
O’Mahony wants to play at the World Cup – make no bones about that. He has spoken, recently, of his desire to get a suitable deal done with Munster and Ireland. He only broke back into the Ireland starting line-up in March, after Jamie Heaslip’s injury, but his stock has risen after performing well for Schmidt’s team and captaining the British & Lions in New Zealand.
The Cork native’s gambit is that his agent, Conor Ridge, is making one proposal that would see O’Mahony get a contract that would take him up to the 2019 World Cup before then leaving him free to re-negotiate around that time. From a practicality and player-mentality view-point, Schmidt and the IRFU would be opposed to this.
So we are left with a player that wants to sign a contract extension and one that will take him to the 2019 World Cup [when he will be 30]. It should suffice but the union will hold firm. They want O’Mahony to sign on the dotted line until June 2021.
There will be no meeting halfway or else the union will be left with four or five major players being out of contract after the World Cup concludes. They cannot allow that to happen.
As it stands, the first IRFU offer has been rejected. This one could drag for a while.
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