David Humphreys: I'll never move a player against their will

The handover is complete, his feet are under the desk, and now the fun starts for David Humphreys.

It's been just over ten days since Humphreys officially took charge as the IRFU’s performance director.

The former Ireland and Ulster out-half has spent the last three months shadowing outgoing performance lead David Nucifora, who will focus exclusively on the Olympic Sevens preparation for the rest of the summer before returning to the southern hemisphere, where he will take up an advisory role with Rugby Australia.

With Nucifora having led the high performance side of the IRFU for the past decade, it will be fascinating to see what particular spin Humphreys puts into the role.

As a former Irish international and a player and director of rugby, there will arguably be greater pressure and scrutiny on his shoulders than Nucifora had as an outsider to the system.

As Humphreys reminded us at the Aviva Stadium when he spoke to the media for the first time in his new role, he is an outsider, of sorts. He’s ten years removed from the Irish rugby system, having spent time working with Gloucester and Georgia, and more recently as performance director with the English Cricket Board.

His first public briefing came as the IRFU launched their new strategic plan for 2024 to 2028. Sitting alongside chief executive Kevin Potts and strategy and projects manager Kate Binchy, Humphreys fielded the majority of questions across a 50-minute session.

The questions and answers spanned a wide range of issues in Irish rugby; central contracts, expanding the production line beyond private schools, evening out the backlog of talent, the role of the club game, coaching development, as well as the areas of growth in the women’s game.

The backlog of talent at