It has been a flawless start to the season for Leinster, and it continued last week with their ruthless dismantling of Munster at Thomond Park.
The now-traditional festive fixture has become a staple of the Irish sporting calendar but, with every passing year, it feels as though the gulf in class between the two sides is ever-growing.
Leinster ran out comfortable 28-7 victors last Friday, their 11th straight regular-season victory over their provincial rivals. Though it remains curious that Munster's only victory in that intervening period came in a URC semi-final en route to their 2023 triumph, the trend is clear.
27 December 2024; Luke McGrath of Leinster celebrates after scoring his side's first try during the United Rugby Championship match between Munster and Leinster at Thomond Park in Limerick. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile
It is also reflected in Leinster's average standing compared to their fellow rivals Ulster and Connacht.
With a wealth of Irish internationals in their roster, Leinster have been allowed to strengthen this season with the acquisitions of megastars RG Snyman (from Munster), Jordie Barrett, and Rabah Slimani.
Though the future looks bright for Leinster, their former hooker Bernard Jackman fears that a lack of competitiveness may not be the worst impact their dominance has on their domestic rivals.
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Bernard Jackman fears crucial impact of Leinster dominance
Writing in his RTÉ Sport column, Jackman suggested that the ever-growing gap between Leinster and the other three Irish provinces could lead to a drop in interest in Connacht, Ulster, and Munster.
Addressing Leinster's drubbing of Munster in Limerick, Jackman argued that the hosts had not even been particularly poor, but that they simply did not have the "tools" to compete with the might of Leinster.
The former Ireland international argued that the knock-on effects could be far more severe should the chasm continue to widen in the coming years.
In fairness to the Munster players, their effort was outstanding. They just didn't have the tools. They didn't have the quality, the size, the power to go toe-to-toe with a Leinster team.
And the challenge is, if that gets into the fans' minds, they don't necessarily buy those tickets. That match isn't sold out next year.
And then you've got more financial issues and you start to drift away. And the team's expectations start to drop as well. And the standards that they set drop. That's a slippery slope to go down.
There is no sign yet that interest is dropping in any of the other provinces, and Munster fans may justifiably point out that they have won a trophy more recently than Leinster.
However, the direction in which provincial rugby appears to be headed is clear, and greater issues could be down the line should Leinster continue to pull away.
Munster currently sit 11th in the URC table, 22 points behind league leaders Leinster.
