Sinead Kissane: Fans should not condemn Henshaw and Hanrahan for showing ambition

But there can be a misplaced sense of betrayal when a player leaves: "What? You're leaving us? Don't you know we had all our hopes pinned on you!"

And the exasperation would spread to lengthy and pontificating about just where it all went wrong.

It's been a bad week for Munster. It's been a difficult one for JJ Hanrahan. We were warned before Christmas that he had a hard offer in from Northampton.

Football folk have got in a tizzy over the fact that Lionel Messi followed Chelsea on Instagram, as if this was some warning that he wants a move to London. Hanrahan's interest in moving to Northampton was a bit more solid than that.

Before he announced his decision this week to leave, Hanrahan may have thrown his eye over the reaction Steven Gerrard got when he revealed he's out of Liverpool this summer.

The Kerryman would have seen the praise for Gerrard, with former players and pundits trying to outdo themselves for a player who was a "one club man".

He also would have seen the questioning of Stevie G's vanity - was his ego too big to be a bench player for his hometown club? And the inevitable PR blame-game of whose fault it really was that Stevie was leaving for La-La-Land.

In the less distorted world of rugby here, there were watered-down versions of those questions about Hanrahan leaving Munster.

Should he not have stayed and fought his way into the team? Were Munster aggressive enough in their pursuit of Hanrahan's signature? Will he even be first choice out-half for Northampton? Is he putting himself out of the picture for Ireland when the new World Cup cycle starts?

Ultimately though, if Hanrahan felt his career wasn't progressing at the pace he would have liked, then he's right to move.

Impatient

He could be accused of being impatient. But when you know the clock is ticking on a career that you will be lucky to get 10 years out of, then being impatient is a flexible concept in professional rugby.

If fans were feeling impatient over the fact that Hanrahan's potential wasn't being fulfilled since he was nominated IRB Junior Player of the Year in 2012, can you imagine how he felt?

As Ronan O'Gara said, "you've got to admire the balls of the young fella because no one has done it before". Hanrahan's loss will be a hit to Munster not only because of the player he is, but because of the player he could become.

You can't compare Hanrahan's situation to Johnny Sexton's - he was top dog in Leinster when he signed for Racing Metro. But Sexton did give us an insight into a player's headspace when they realise they're actually leaving their home-club.

"It was only after I did some kicking, and turned on my mobile phone to see a stream of disbelieving texts that it finally registered with me. This is actually happening. I went to my room, locked the door, lay on the bed and cried," Sexton admitted in his autobiography.

Some fans can bang on that no player is bigger than a club but their reaction when a player leaves - or threatens to - can undermine that notion.

Which brings us to Robbie Henshaw. The rumours linking the Ireland centre with a move from Connacht to Leinster at the end of the season have been hanging around the past few months. His contract is up in summer 2016.

Twenty-four hours after Connacht head coach Pat Lam complained that people keep "hounding" Henshaw over his future, the player himself attended a promotional gig in Dublin and did a number of media interviews this week.

Henshaw was understandably uncomfortable when questioned about his future. He played it straight, saying he wants to concentrate on Connacht and Ireland at the moment. He gave a reductionist answer of "No that's not true" when I asked him if he had looked for a move.

Let's make one thing clear. I do not have an agenda about Henshaw's future. What is slightly concerning is the huge expectation on him. He's as close to Connacht's Chosen One as any player has been. And because of his talent, Connacht fans are pinning their hopes on him for the future.

But is this whole pressure too much of a burden? The kid is only 21. Remember how he looked almost choked with nerves during the national anthem before Ireland's November Test against South Africa. Henshaw's face gives him away - he admitted himself this week that he needs more of a poker-face when the pressure gets to him.

Seeing uber-talented 20-somethings like Hanrahan leave can be tough for fans who spend so much time and money supporting a club.

We love these players for the ambition they show on the pitch, yet question them when they show ambition off it if they feel they need a change to improve themselves.

There will come a time when Henshaw will have to make a decision about his future. But it's one that shouldn't be loaded with fear of who he will disappoint or offend.

Maybe the speculation will ease for now if Connacht qualify for the Champions Cup next season.

And maybe Henshaw will think of that line Stevie G said when Liverpool won the Champions League: "How can I leave after a night like this?"

Free-for-all for pay-per-view in GAA?

When the European Champions Cup got split between two broadcasters, having to pay for another subscription for pay-per-view was a pain.

Paying for Sky Sports is costly enough without having to dish out more money to get BT Sport.

But I like the way BT Sport do things. Their coverage of This Is Not The Heineken Cup is certainly more laid-back and I like the simple optics of the pundits being casually dressed without the stiff accessory of suits and ties. Although it does grate slightly when their relaxed approach extends to the pundits calling each other by their nicknames.

Their efforts to bring the viewer right into the action could come at a price someday, though.

Presenter Martin Bayfield can be seen running around the pitch live on air trying to get an interview with players before a game. One of these days he's going to be hit with a ball or get caught up in a maul - although you wouldn't mind that happening to Austin Healy.

I'm not overly gone on the post-match analysis taking place in the club-bar. At this stage we just want to hear opinions of the experts - especially the excellent Brian O'Driscoll - rather than get sidetracked with the drinking and carousing in the background.

So plenty of positives. And then I saw that the station might look at throwing a pitch for the GAA TV rights. "We'd be interested in looking at it when they (TV rights) come round again," they confirmed this week.

This is nothing personal against BT Sport. I do have a vested interest in that I work with TV3, who had rights to show live GAA. But besides all that, are the floodgates now open? Could GAA fans here at home miss out on watching even more live games because they will be pay-per-view only?

This may sound like an over-reaction for now. But I will be firmly watching this space.

One man in the middle is more than enough

Guess what really annoys women about hurling? Imagine having two referees on the pitch?

The 35-page Hurling 2020 Committee Report threw up some interesting, innovative and unsurprising bits of information and ideas which got lost amid the main recommendations and findings of the report.

Nearly 4,000 people answered questions in a survey about the state of hurling last summer.

On the negatives of the game, "referee inconsistency is top of the list. Player misbehaviour also ranks highly… Women are especially exercised about time-wasting while men are much more concerned about the amount of ruck ball in the game now".

Exercised about time-wasting? Perfectly understandable.

The committee also looked into the idea of having two referees on the pitch.

But "the level of inconsistency among referees is one of the most commented negatives among players. Having two referees on the pitch at the one time could further exacerbate this inconsistency with incidents within the same game being officiated in different ways by each other."

Don't know about you but I've got a pain in my head just reading that paragraph.

But seriously, could you imagine what it would be like watching two refs on the pitch with a high probability of wild contradictions and inconsistencies during a game? No thanks.