It's fair to say that Leinster's place in Irish rugby has been put under quite the microscope by supporters of other provinces in recent days.
Leinster announced earlier this week that All Blacks superstar Jordie Barrett would join the province on a short-term deal next season, coming into a squad that is also set to add RG Snyman for the 2024/25 campaign. As well as that, Dan Sheehan was handed a central contract and there were murmurings that Jamison Gibson-Park would get the same.
On top of that, it was revealed that the province would base themselves in the Aviva Stadium next season due to the renovations taking place at the RDS.
As a result of these developments, some feel that Leinster are being treated rather favourably by the IRFU in comparison to the other three provinces.
You could see why some may draw that conclusion.
Leinster are likely to have ten players on a central contracts next season, with the other provinces having just one each. They are also set to benefit from some high profile overseas signings when the other teams are looking at cutting such stars from their squad due to budget issues.
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Bernard Jackman asks if Leinster have been 'harshly treated' by IRFU
On the back of these latest developments related to central contract, it has been suggested that the IRFU will revisit the way that particular process is structured.
There is no doubt that Leinster have benefitted from having so many players on such deals, with the IRFU picking up the tab for those players and opening up the budget for the province to sign the likes of Barrett and Snyman.
While some may feel this is a sign of favouritism, Bernard Jackman actually believes that the province have been treated rather harshly by IRFU high performance director David Nucifora over the last few seasons.
Writing in the Irish Independent, he suggested that Leinster could well have been handed even more central contracts over the last number of years.
I am proud to be from Leinster but would like to think my time in Connacht, France and Wales has given me a bit of perspective. I actually think that Leinster have been harshly treated by David Nucifora during his reign.
The central contract allocation looks biased towards Leinster but that’s where the best players are now. Which one of the Leinster ones shouldn’t be on a central contract?
The fact that Josh Van der Flier was world player of the year but stayed on a provincial contract for another season and that Jamison Gibson-Park, who is up there with Antoine Dupont as one of the best scrum-halves in the world, will only move onto one this month is strange.
Jackman gave examples of Conor Murray and Iain Henderson as players who are on central contracts that are no longer first choice starts for Ireland, having been bypassed by Leinster players. Murray will come off his central contract this summer, with Munster set to pick up the tab for his salary next season.
This argument does make sense, in that Leinster could well have had more players on such deals. After all, their players do make up the bulk of the Ireland side.
Of course, this also makes it more difficult for the other provinces to close the gap that is developing between the Dublin-based outfit and the other three teams.
It certainly seems as though there is no obvious fix for this issue from the IRFU's perspective.
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