The All Blacks have come and gone, the Canadians are coming and the Italians are on the horizon. Meanwhile the All-Ireland League has started and the focus this weekend is back on the club scene when the first full series of matches are scheduled.

Before elaborating on the league, it is pertinent to refer back to the All Blacks' fleeting visit to Ireland. There is a very logical reason why they played only one match here and it has nothing to do with any calculated insult to Irish rugby.

Ireland was not on the New Zealanders' touring schedule when it was originally devised. The tour was scheduled for England and Wales. The reason that Ireland got the international was because of an arrangement made last year with Wales. Ireland surrendered their scheduled A match against Australia so that Wales could play the Wallabies. The quid pro quo for that was that the Welsh surrendered a match on the All Blacks part of their tour, thus enabling Ireland to play the New Zealanders. It is as simple as that.

Back to the domestic scene in this country and at the moment there is an IRFU working party looking at the structure of the game here relative to the provinces and the clubs. I believe that the club, province, country three-tier system best represents and caters for the game here. That does not mean that it should not be subject to discussion and where advisable some amendment. But any amendment must take account of the clubs and their needs and any extension of the provinces' fixtures will have to be very prudent.

The working party currently involved in discussions with the four provincial managements consists of Eddie Coleman, who is chairman, Don Crowley and Stan Waldron, of the IRFU, Mike Ruddock, the coach to the Leinster team, and Cormac O'Herlihy, of Old Belvedere. They have sought the views of the provincial managers and those views have been conveyed back to the working party. I gather there is a wide variation on the views being expressed and that another meeting has been arranged for the very near future.

Meanwhile last weekend the first division clubs in the AIL met in Dublin to discuss matters of mutual concern and interest. They have asked for a meeting with the IRFU and that request has been granted. The league structure and such matters as any possible extension of the provinces fixtures are matters high on the clubs' agenda. I believe that the league structure does need amendment and that there are too many clubs in the first division.

As I have stated before, the first division was at its very best when it consisted of nine clubs. I saw some really good matches in the league last season. But one of the problems was that with 14 clubs in the division, too many of the matches were not competitive. Reducing the first division to 12 clubs next season is a step in the right direction. It is, however, far too small a step.

With regard to an extension of provincial involvement, the clubs will resist - and I believe rightly so - any attempts to broaden the provinces' fixture list to any great extent. There is not the depth in the game in this country to allow for a situation where the clubs would be stripped of their provincial players. It would devalue the premier domestic club competition. Nor would it help in the development of young players.

I would ask where the opposition is going to come from for the provinces if they are to play throughout the season? Sure, you will get the odd team in from overseas.

Talk about a competition involving Irish and Scottish district sides does not look to me to be a viable proposition either. The Scottish clubs made their position very clear in the very recent past on that issue. Who can forget what happened a few years ago when such a competition was started between the provinces and the Scottish Districts. It was little short of a disaster.

Talk abut packed grounds is pie in the sky. As we well know from experience, New South Wales, Queensland, Transvaal and Northern Transvaal could not fill Donnybrook. The Scottish clubs' attitude will be exactly the same as the Irish clubs' to any provincial extension of consequence.

Like Ireland, the Scottish clubs have seen some of their best players depart for the English League. Players in a professional game will go to where they think is best for them. That is understandable. As we have seen, however, some players do not always make the right choice. But it is their choice and they have the right to exercise it.

The belief that we should be encouraging our players to go to English clubs and be a feeding ground for them, more especially London Irish, would get no support from me. I wish London Irish well, but let us not delude ourselves that fundamentally now they are any different from any of the other English clubs. London Irish - just like Leicester, Wasps and the rest - is now a business. It is not about nationality or glory, it is about money.

The London Irish club has made its position very clear to the IRFU in a letter sent earlier this season. The English clubs collectively and individually do not give a damn about Ireland or Irish rugby. Business is the name of their game. That is fair enough, but let us not delude ourselves.

We saw what happened last season about the release of Irish players for the provinces from London Irish, despite specific agreements given when players signed for the club. It is now, too, in any case an open club and an announcement to that effect has been made recently. Should we be nurturing our players here and bringing them through the system and encourage them to go to London Irish?

The players who went to England last season came through the club and provincial structure in Ireland. The vast majority of players signed last season by London Irish from this country were established internationals. Nor does the argument that all our players will be better players because they go to England stand up. Some will prosper there, some will not and have not.

Last season, for instance, the only London Irish player who was not dropped by Ireland was Jeremy Davidson. He was an established international before he went to Sunbury. Were Conor O'Shea, Victor Costello, Gabriel Fulcher, Niall Hogan, David Humphreys, all better players for playing in the Courage League? Were Paul Burke, Allan Clarke, and Richard Wallace and Paddy Johns? They all have one thing in common, they were all dropped by Ireland last season.

I did not see one scrap of evidence to suggest they were better players than they were before they left Ireland. Jonathan Bell never produced the form for Ireland since he went to Northampton that he had done when he was playing for Ballymena. Simon Mason and Rob Henderson were also dropped.

Paul Wallace and Eric Miller are two players who most certainly did prosper in England. Both were quality players before they left these shores. Keith Wood was as good a player for Garryowen as he is for Harlequins and Paddy Johns was as good a player when he left Dungannon as he is now.

The AIL is of crucial importance to the game in this country. And the European competitions are doing much to develop our young talent at home.