Slightly surprising lack of Irish media interest in Challenge Cup final?
I'm not suggesting that general Irish rugby podcasts should give equal weight to the Leinster and Ulster finals. Leinster is the showpiece, sure. But Leinster players themselves talked about the importance of their Challenge Cup win in the rebuild. I'd have thought maybe between a quarter to a third of coverage would have been reasonable?
I was surprised that some podcasts have completely ignored an Irish province in a cup final, and others have shuffled in a 10 minute(?) segment in an hour+ weighted similarly to Munster/Connacht URC quarter finals or Munster's seemingly endless governance missteps. I'm not saying all outlets, and I'm obviously not including clearly Ulster rugby focused podcasts here.
It's baffling particularly given the wider context of Ireland squad players or potential Ireland squad players have made such an impact this season. And the province's remarkable turnaround from last year. And the transition for the under 20s coaching ticket bedding in and fruition. And the importance of the academy players, a wider topic of interest in irish rugby
There's appetite for deep dives from outside each provinces in question - examples include plenty of interest in Lancaster's Connacht rebuild and the Dexcom, in Squidge discussing how Leinster's academy is the envy of all of Wales's development pathways (ok not Irish media but ye get my point), in the structural issues Munster face in being almost unique amongst pro rugby to be split across two home cities
But where's the love/interest for us nordies? (please don't respond with a clichéd basic "they never care" - Ulster has been featured pretty prominently across all-island rugby media this season, I've lost count of southern pundits saying "they're actually the most entertaining province to watch"). Last season was a kindness, "if you don't have anything nice to say..."
I'm not annoyed, I'm genuinely slightly puzzled - I'm that guy who subscribe to locally-focused rugby podcasts around the world to hear local perspectives (I know, it's borderline worrying behaviour) and my impression was that this is weird.
Just curious to hear any thoughts. Anyway, SUFTUM, come on the Ulster, and good luck to Leinster on Saturday
(edit for spelling mistake)