Gerry Thornley: Irish provinces’ lack of depth harshly exposed by whitewash URC weekend

It’s only one weekend. Even so, that was the first time all four Irish sides lost on the opening round of the season since 2009. Of course, there were mitigating factors, none more so than the absence of pretty much all of Ireland’s summer tourists.

By contrast, most of the Scottish and Welsh players who took part in the opening rounds of the summer’s Nations Championship were made available. The English players represented their clubs on the first weekend of the Premiership despite previously travelling to South Africa, returning home to host Fiji and then flying back out to Argentina. Naturally, most of the French frontliners already have three Top 14 games under their belt.