CONNACHT STAR Mack Hansen has weighed in on the ongoing discussion surrounding Leinster’s dominance in Irish rugby.
Leinster announced this week that Jordie Barrett will sign for the province on a short-term deal in December.
This shock signing, accompanied with RG Snyman’s switch to the RDS from Munster, demonstrates the stronghold Leinster have amongst the provinces.
According to reports, Jamison Gibson-Park will become the tenth Leinster player to land a central contract with the IRFU this summer.
To put this into perspective, the other three provinces will only have one player each on a central contract.
Conor Murray and Peter O’Mahony both signed on for another year at Munster recently but will no longer be on the central contract system.
This makes Tadhg Beirne the only Munster man benefiting off the national system.
Bundee Aki remains the only star at Connacht on a central contact and Iain Henderson likewise at Ulster.
Next year, Leinster won’t have to pay the wages of: Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan, Tadhg Furlong, James Ryan, Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris, Robbie Henshaw, Garry Ringrose, Hugo Keenan and Gibson-Park.
This obviously creates a lot more space on their books for big name stars like Barrett and Snyman.
However, Mack Hansen does not believe Leinster have an unfair advantage in Ireland and just thinks they have been lucky with the talent they have produced.
Hansen told Virgin Media: “Not really. I think a lot of their guys are from Dublin and have come through the program itself.
“Then to get put on central contracts that just shows what they’re doing here is working.
“I don’t think it necessarily works in their favour, it’s just luck of the draw for them.
“They’ve got some really good players that go onto the centralised contracts with Ireland and saves them a bit of money to get these marquee players.
“Nobody really has a problem with the French teams that are doing it and whatnot so no point really complaining about it.”
The current IRFU system was constructed to help the provinces produce established Irish internationals, keep them playing in Ireland and manage their workload when it comes to international matches.
However, it has also been reported that a review of the system is set to take place by the IRFU over the coming months.