“Did you hear Richie Whelan has signed for La Rochelle?” You never know when a sliver of transfer gossip will fall into your lap. This one came from overhearing punters taking in the annual fixture between Ireland U20s and a Leinster Development XV.
The name of the club was familiar. That of the player less so. Who is Richie Whelan, and why has Ronan O’Gara taken him on?
Whelan played for Leinster in the 2024 edition of this fixture in Donnybrook. Injury and a competitive backrow saw him miss out on Ireland U20s. He didn’t earn a Leinster academy offer, playing instead for Clontarf in the AIL. Despite captaining Roscrea in the Senior Cup back in 2023, he would be unfamiliar to all bar the most stringent of rugby fans – those of the sort to take in an underage trial match on a Baltic January evening.
French rugby has a long history of padding their academies with foreign talent. Irish provinces have had their difficult days against Georgian props and flying Fijians. Such is the frequency of Australian youngsters signing for French clubs – Emmanuel Meafou a prominent example, 16-year-old 147kg giant Visesio Kite the latest case – Rugby Australia chairman Daniel Herbert has cried poaching to World Rugby.
But now we’re hearing of provincial castaways making the journey. There are a handful of Irish players already in France, predominantly in second-tier clubs. They are small in number for now, but plenty are convinced that more will join.
There is a catch. French rugby has its now infamous JIFF regulations – short for joueurs issus des filières de formation. This quota mandates a certain number of home-grown players in each match day squad, limiting foreign imports. Financial incentives are attached to giving JIFFs game time. Penalties are handed out for not fulfilling the requirements. To earn JIFF status, players need to spend three years in a French academy before turning 23.
Moving to France at a young age is a necessity. Ronan Loughnane, another former Roscrea man currently at Aurillac in the second-tier Pro D2, dropped out of college to take up an offer after attempts to impress Leinster and Munster fell through. “All my mates told me you’ve some balls to go over there and drop everything,” says the former Ireland U20 hooker. “I signed a three-year deal. For me, it was the obvious next move when nothing was coming back home. I just had to do it.”
The influence of Irish coaches in France is undoubtedly a factor. La Rochelle’s assistant coach Donnacha Ryan used his connections back home when scouting for an academy backrow. Pat Whelan, based close to Roscrea in Nenagh, coached both Ryan and Richie Whelan. He helped make the link.
James Coughlan, the former Munster backrow, is the current director of rugby at Biarritz. Speaking to Off the Ball earlier this year, he explained his desire to offer more Irish players a pathway to professional rugby.
Coughlan has history when it comes to recruiting from Ireland. When previously coaching at Pau, he signed a pair of youngsters out of his old school, CBC Cork. Eoghan Barrett and Ben Roche were immediately given three-year deals with a view to earning JIFF status. Roche struggled with injury and returned home, but Barrett, who was never seriously on Munster’s radar, is still playing in France, now at Soyaux-Angoulême.
“I’ve gotten seven years of rugby as opposed to getting none at home,” he says. “I struggle to think I’d even play AIL, but here I am now in the Pro D2 having played in the Top 14 and the Challenge Cup.”
Coughlan emphasised his wish to sign only those who don’t make it provincially. “We’re not looking to take any Irish players who will go on to play for Ireland,” he said. “We’re looking to give guys who are a bit outside the academy bracket that we see have potential, we could do something with them here.”
In theory, everyone wins. Irish rugby doesn’t need to be worried about losing its best prospects. Though it’s difficult to see Messrs Coughlan and Ryan saying no on the off-chance a young star can be convinced to give up on the Irish dream. O’Gara did try to sign Jack Crowley for La Rochelle, after all.
The players clearly benefit, enjoying the better odds offered by the size of France’s professional structure. “In Ireland there’s only four provinces, there’s 30 teams in France,” explains Karl Martin, who chose to leave Leinster for Montpellier in order to see more game time during the pandemic. “You have more opportunity, more games as a young guy. It will get you noticed.”
There is also the chance, however slim, of late bloomers. The French equivalent of Tadhg Beirne, someone who finds a different pathway to professional rugby and later turns the IRFU’s head. Irish coaches could never acknowledge using France as another development pathway on the sly. Yet, given the backlog of schools talent, it’s not the worst idea to answer the phone when French clubs ask for recommendations.
What’s in it for the French? The simple answer is Ireland’s school system. Aged 18/19, Irish players are not necessarily more talented than France’s equivalent, but they appear better prepared for the pros.
“When I explain the schools set-up to the lads in France, they find it really bizarre,” explains Barrett. “Just how positive it is at creating professional young players. I’ve often said to my team-mates here that I could name six or seven guys way better than me in school who would have what it takes to make it in France. They just weren’t given the opportunity.”
“I’d say the basics would be nailed on in Ireland from a very young age,” says Martin.
“An 18-year-old in France vs Ireland, their senior cup year; knowledge of the game, physicality, fitness, the Irish player would be superior,” explains Loughnane.
Money is inevitably another factor. If a Pro D2 club develops a JIFF player only to then lose him to the Top 14, they could be in line for around €250,000 in compensation. The more JIFFs you develop, irrespective of birthplace, the better the odds for smaller clubs of earning big pay-days.
If all these boxes can be ticked, positives gleaned for everyone involved, why are there only a handful of current Irish JIFFs? “It’s beginning to happen,” says Peter Lydon, the former Kilkenny College pupil now at Angoulême. Lydon is not JIFF qualified but has been on the lookout for those who have potential. “Our backs coach asked me if I knew any Irish guys coming through who I could recommend for them to bring into the academy here.”
“Our head of recruitment has come to me and asked if I know of players in certain positions that would still be eligible for JIFF,” says Loughnane. “When I go back home to Birr or Nenagh, I’ll ask if there are any boys playing outhalf aged 17 who might want to come across and get their JIFF.”
For now, the recruitment pathway is still reliant on old-fashioned connections. Word of mouth. Taps on the shoulder. A nod and a wink. By contrast, some French clubs have academies in Fiji, built with the sole purpose of creating a conveyor belt of young athletes who can earn JIFF status.
While Coughlan wants to improve links with provincial coaches, there won’t be an Irish branch of a French academy any time soon. The combination of luck and individual belligerence which sent the current crop across still remains key. O’Gara says his experience working with Whelan has left him open to hearing from Irish players, but they have to do some legwork.
“He’s come in, he’s represented what he stands for and what the people of Ireland stand for,” says the La Rochelle boss. “I’m very proud of him, I need to just sort out what the best thing for him and his future is.
“It works both ways. Some people have reached out, some haven’t. If there are young kids frustrated, I’m here.”
