Advertisement League of Ireland Horse Racing TV Listings GAA Fixtures The Video Review Sport meets news, current affairs, society & pop culture Rugby Weekly Extra Dive into all the news and analysis 3 times a week The Football Family Weekly insights from the week’s big talking points Advertisement More Stories Rieko Ioane leads the haka against Ireland last November.Billy Stickland/INPHO Leinster flex their muscles again with shock Ioane signing The eastern province will continue to supplement homegrown talent with some star names. 2.23pm, 16 Apr 2025 Share options OUT WILL GO Jordie Barrett, in will come Rieko Ioane. Leinster fans will be able to enjoy having both of the All Blacks’ first-choice centre pairing at their province at different stages in the same calendar year. Throw in the fact that two-time World Cup winner RG Snyman, arguably playing the best club rugby of his career, and French tighthead Rabah Slimani, revived by his move to Ireland, have signed on into next season and these are heady times to be a Leinster fan. That’s not to mention the array of homegrown Ireland internationals who make up the major bulk of their squad. News of Ioane’s arrival – he will join after the 2025 November Tests and stay until the summer of 2026 – came a day after the IRFU announced further tweaks to its national contracting system, perhaps making the Ioane signing even more heartening for Leinster. The IRFU’s latest adjustment means that from the start of the 2026/27 season, Leinster will contribute 40% of the salaries of its nationally-contracted players from their provincial budget. From next season, they’ll have 11 players on national contracts, with two in Connacht, one in Munster, and one in Ulster. That means somewhere in the region of €1.5 to €2 million coming out of Leinster’s budget, where it wasn’t the case just two years before. Until the current season, national contracts – also known as ‘central’ contracts – were paid in full directly by the IRFU. This season saw provinces contributing “up to 30%” from their provincial budgets for the first time and there will be another leap to 40% in the summer of 2026, just after Ioane returns to New Zealand. So maybe this next shift in the national contracts system will have an impact on Leinster’s ability to bring in more stars like Barrett and Ioane. Or maybe it will squeeze out some of the well-paid squad players Leinster have been able to hold onto. David Humphreys and the IRFU will make further changes to the national contracts system.Ben Brady / INPHO Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO Either way, these signings of the Kiwi stars have been thrilling for the eastern province’s fans. This sudden connection with New Zealand Rugby, who Leinster thanked once again today, could bear more fruit. The All Blacks’ biggest stars’ contracts generally include scope for these seven-month sabbaticals, and there aren’t many better clubs to go to than Leinster. Previously, the Kiwi sabbaticals were seen almost as a rest period and Barrett’s decision to head to Ireland had family history behind it. But his reports back to HQ in New Zealand have been good and Ioane will follow in his footsteps. Advertisement Ioane will succeed Barrett as the third NIQ player in Leinster’s squad next season. Charlie Ngatai was a fine player, but it’s fair to say Leinster have moved up a tier or two with his NIQ slot in their backline since he left. They also moved up a tier with their NIQ second row when RG Snyman came in as Jason Jenkins departed. The Snyman signing was a blend of fortune and proactivity from Leinster. Munster decided not to offer him a new deal and Johann van Graan’s Bath were the front-runners to sign him, but Snyman and his wife were keen to stay in Ireland. So Leinster made a move and Snyman was delighted to get the chance to stay on Irish shores. Initially, the signing was blocked by ex-IRFU performance director David Nucifora but Leinster pushed back and eventually got union sign-off on a deal that’s believed to mean Snyman can’t start Champions Cup games ahead of Ireland locks James Ryan and Joe McCarthy. Rabah Slimani has proven to be a more impactful player than Michael Ala’alatoa as the NIQ tighthead, although it wasn’t obvious that would be the case. Slimani was destined for retirement when Leinster made an approach that surprised him as much as anyone. Leinster had already tried to bring in an Irish-qualified prop to replace Ala’alatoa. Finlay Bealham and Tom O’Toole were sounded out, with the latter believed to have been close to signing, but those moves never happened and Leinster were granted permission to bring in a NIQ player. Leinster's NIQs have impressed so far this season.Laszlo Geczo / INPHO Laszlo Geczo / INPHO / INPHO Slimani has surpassed expectations with his performances and his scrummaging influence on others. Despite his presence, Leinster tighthead prop Thomas Clarkson has won his first eight Ireland caps at tighthead this season, while loosehead Jack Boyle has also broken through with Ireland. And that’s the thing – Leinster got sign off to extend Slimani’s deal partly because they’re providing front rows for the Ireland squad, as well as their provincial neighbours. Other provinces have been denied approval for NIQ front row signings partly because they haven’t been producing players in those positions for the national team. 80% of revenue in Irish rugby comes from the men’s national team, so the IRFU’s key job is to ensure that all four provinces are delivering high-quality players for the national team. Leinster got the green light to extend Snyman’s contract partly because they have produced two nationally-contracted second rows in Ryan and McCarthy. Leinster can bring in Barrett and Ioane because they’re producing lots of centres and back three players for Ireland. No one needs reminding of how much Leinster dominate Irish team sheets or how many products of their pathway are now playing with other provinces. The understandable frustration from other provinces is that they don’t have the same system underneath their pro game as Leinster, namely a relative abundance of well-run and well-funded private schools. The tweak to the national contracts model hopes to help address this. All of that 40% – most of it taken from Leinster – will be ringfenced for funding “pathway initiatives” in Connacht, Munster, and Leinster. Those three provinces might like to sink the additional hundreds of thousands of euros into a big-name signing, but the IRFU-imposed and managed demand that it goes into the pathways makes sense. A few hundred grand could have a game-changing long-term impact in those pipelines. Of course, patience will be required. Leinster have underlined that they see Ioane as a “versatile” utility back, as was the case with Barrett, but he is clearly best at outside centre these days after being a sensational wing when he was younger. To be fair, Barrett has played at fullback and inside centre, but is most effective at the latter role. Leinster have excellent inside and outside centres already but they evidently feel that more elite strength in depth can help them avoid coming up short in the Champions Cup and URC again. Leinster’s case for the IRFU to sign off on NIQ signings has surely never been stronger, while their financial case is also unique in Irish rugby at the moment. The IRFU provides Connacht, Munster, Leinster, and Ulster with an equal basic provincial contracting budget, but the difference is that Leinster can generate more of their own revenue to supplement that budget through big gates at their games and other advantages that come with having the largest population. Leinster have worked hard to grow revenues by building their season ticket holder base, moving games to bigger stadiums, and welcoming private investment. Bringing in the likes of Snyman, Barrett, and Ioane only adds to their ability to put bums on seats. Ioane should provide plenty of thrills for Leinster fans.Ben Brady / INPHO Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO Right now, Leinster can afford to bring in Barrett on a lucrative deal for only seven months, whereas the other three provinces don’t appear to be in that position as they work to balance the books. In the past, others have been able to afford big-name signings. Ulster had the likes of Charles Piutau, John Afoa, and Ruan Pienaar. Munster signed World Cup winners Snyman and Damian de Allende at the same time in 2020, backed by generous private investment. Leinster are the ones in the market for the biggest names at the moment. And the biggest names are interested in being part of their environment. Before the Ioane signing was done, they were linked with Springboks star Damian Willemse, another exciting and versatile back. It’s thought he even visited Dublin, but while a deal never happened, it highlighted that Leinster were aiming high again. The shock element of the Ioane signing is that he has been a pantomime villain figure in Irish rugby very recently, clashing with Johnny Sexton at the 2023 World Cup and then sowing it in when the All Blacks beat Ireland again last autumn. You could understand why people were checking the date to make sure it wasn’t 1 April. But really, that stuff is all a sideshow. Ioane is another world-class player. There’s little doubt that Leinster players and fans will welcome in a figure like that, particularly one who is renowned as diligent behind the spiky on-pitch persona. You don’t go from being an elite left wing to a brilliant outside centre without serious graft and class. There is an obvious risk attached to this signing, as with Barrett. Given it’s such a short contract, one injury could ruin the whole project. It would be a hefty outlay for little return but injury is always a danger in rugby and Ioane’s history in that regard is good. He is as good a signing as can be made, so while we looked on from Irish quarters as French and Japanese clubs made these kinds of announcements in recent years, Leinster have shown that they’re out to make a splash too. They will surely continue to churn out players for the national team and, quite likely, for other provinces while they bid to supplement the homegrown stars with top-class talent from abroad. Murray Kinsella View 6 comments Send Tip or Correction Embed this post To embed this post, copy the code below on your site Email “Leinster flex their muscles again with shock Ioane signing”. Recipient's Email Feedback on “Leinster flex their muscles again with shock Ioane signing”. Your Feedback Your Email (optional) Report a Comment Please select the reason for reporting this comment. Please give full details of the problem with the comment... This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic. 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