The question can Donnacha Ryan play for Ireland will dominate the post-season discourse if the Munster man follows through on the reports linking him with a move to Racing 92 in the Top 14. It emerged to much surprise last month that Ryan was on the verge of leaving Munster in favour of a move to the side at which Ronan O'Gara is employed as a coach.
It came from left-field, and is a result of the IRFU's deciding against giving Ryan a central contract, which would have been significantly better remunerated than the contract Munster offered their second row. As a result, the 33-year-old has had his head turned by the lucrative offer in France, so is on the verge of leaving the province he has spent 13 years with.
Given Joe Schmidt's policy of refusing to select Irish internationals based abroad - Johnny Sexton proved an exception, but the likes of Ian Madigan and Marty Moore did not get a look in for international selection this year - it had been assumed that Ryan's leaving Munster would signal the end of his international career.
Not necessarily.
Joe Schmidt gave an extensive radio interview to RTE's Michael Corcoran for RTE's Sunday Sport this week, in which he said that one should "never say never" regarding the second-rows international future. Here's what Schmidt had to say on the incident:
Can Donnacha Ryan play for Ireland?
As much as we try to keep everyone inside playing in Ireland, cause we want to do that to support the provinces. If we don’t manage the players well and we start picking players from outside of Ireland then other players are likely to go because they will see that they can still get selected by the national team.
We never say never because there are some really good Irish players playing outside of Ireland but at the same time we want to keep investing in the people who are investing in our provincial game because in the end we need to keep our provincial game strong for our national team to be successful as well.
You can read more of what Schmidt had to say on a number of different topics on the RTE Sport website.
