We’ve become so used to talking about rugby players like they’re tins of beans being stored away in a bunker for a rainy day in the name of “squad depth” that news of Ben Healy leaving for Edinburgh at the end of this season is something of a shock.

Ben Healy is 23 years of age – 24 this summer – and has, at the time of writing, 47 Munster caps. By the time he leaves at the end of this season, he’ll have 50+ in all likelihood and it’ll mark the first time in a while that a player of his relative youth and status has decided to take up a contract abroad in quite some time. The last was probably JJ Hanrahan, now that I think about it, who also left aged 23, so if it feels the same as that don’t be too surprised.

The reaction I’ve seen so far has ranged from sad and disappointed – normal reactions, essentially – to the genuinely completely unhinged ravings of mad men and cranks.

My opinion? This scenario was always likely to play out the way it has.

The first thing that would have tipped you off to this was Jack Crowley’s two year deal being announced a few weeks ago. Both Crowley and Healy were on synced deals onto this season. Why is that important? There is no transfer market in rugby outside of a few notable exceptions so most clubs like to keep their options open when it comes to assessing prospects and big depth chart moves by syncing contracts. Essentially, you’ll often see two players in the same position or in similar role builds kept on the same contract expiry date so that the club can assess their position on the depth chart and retain them accordingly on terms appropriate to their squad importantance in the same contract season.

That way, the club is in control of the depth chart and can ensure they aren’t scrambling to keep both players in the chart at different times, which can lead to losing players you don’t want to lose or overpaying for two guys in what is a one man position, which robs your contract mobility in other areas of the field.

That’s doubly true when it comes to primary playmakers like scrumhalf or flyhalf. At scrumhalf, for example, we have a unique situation in that we have a veteran scrumhalf coming into the last season of an IRFU central contract in 2023/24 with the guy we’ve decided is the “next” main guy in the position – Craig Casey – contracted provincially. They appear to be overlapping in status this season when it comes to their usage in big games but that isn’t a financial issue for Munster because Murray’s contract is paid directly by the IRFU. If it was down to Munster to contract both players out of our own provincial budget, the only obvious decision would be to go with Casey if you could only keep one, especially considering he had active big money options floating around elsewhere.

At flyhalf, Munster had four active options last season, with three of those players up for renewal at the time – Joey Carbery, Ben Healy and Jake Flannery.

Joey Carbery got a two year deal which shouldn’t have been a shock given his position on the national depth chart but the fact it was two years instead of three was notable. Stander and O’Mahony were picking up three year deals at this age but Carbery isn’t in that bracket as of yet but the two year deal he did sign put him in “let’s see what’s up after the World Cup” territory. Flannery was the player with the least amount of game time of the three so he took up a one year deal in Ulster. That left Ben Healy who was, at the time of signing last season, the player with the most concurrent usage. That he got a one year deal is likely a reflection of Munster’s assessment of his level and his own contract demands with a World Cup looming.

A one year deal suited Munster because it got him on the same cycle as Jack Crowley, which would allow us to assess, stratify or release if needs be. A one year deal also suited Healy because it gave him options ahead of the World Cup because of his long stated Scottish eligibility.

Flash forward to this season and some unplanned events moved the window away from Ben Healy. When Jake Flannery and Jack Crowley were called up to the Emerging Ireland tour – something no one knew about at the start of preseason – their inclusion only highlighted Ben Healy’s omission. Sure, he was needed at Munster so there might well have been horsetrading involved there but the fact remained that he was not one of the players that Ireland saw as being on their elongated depth chart. When you couple that with his ommison from the summer tour to New Zealand, despite being the #2 guy at Munster as the season ended, and the writing was on the wall for Healy from a test perspective.

Ireland weren’t even interested in handing out a capture cap at any point over the previous two seasons so for Healy, I think it was a simple equation – if he wanted test rugby to happen in a realistic timeframe, it would be in Scottish navy, rather than Irish green.

When you combine that with Munster bumping Crowley onto a deal that goes beyond Carbery’s – remember, being out of sync on your deal when you’re close on the depth chart is a deliberate choice with a statement embedded in it – there was nowhere for Healy to go.

Another one year deal to get on the same cycle as Carbery, who’d likely have a World Cup under his belt and #1 spot in the Irish chart post-Sexton? That would suit Munster because he’d cover for the World Cup but it wouldn’t suit Healy. It would be a massive risk for him, actually. If he signed a two year deal, it would be one where he’d be pretty clearly the guy covering for Crowley and Carbery. At 24/25 years of age, that isn’t what Healy saw for himself.

At Edinburgh, he can take over their #1 jersey fairly quickly and I would say he’s been signed to do just that, and then immediately move to at least third on the Scottish national depth chart.

Similar money, more status, better test chances – it’s a no brainer for him but make no mistake, we had made our choice when it came to who we were going to be building our team around and it wasn’t Healy. We wanted to keep him because he’s a good player who knows what we’re doing and would be more than good cover next season. But Healy wants more than that and rightly so.

Make no mistake, Jack Crowley is the foundational talent in this group and his usage this season as a primary playmaker in the new attacking system shows you that. Ben Healy is a good player but his core skill set is still a janky matchup for the high possession, high tempo and high option game that we’re playing, in my opinion.

Ben Healy will be missed – and he’s far from done this season – but his leaving is a by-product of the academy working as planned and ambitious players looking at the facts and backing themselves in a different environment.

When we contracted Crowley off-sync with everyone else, we made our choice. And now Ben has made his. Best of luck to him in the future because he’s a guy who deserves that luck.