As part of his role, Humphreys – who won 72 caps for Ireland and captained Ulster to the European Cup in 1999 – says he wants to return all four Irish provincial teams to the “top end of Europe”.
Leinster, Munster and Ulster have all qualified for this season’s Investec Champions Cup knockout rounds while Connacht have reached the last 16 in the second-tier Challenge Cup.
But while Leinster have played in each of the last three Champions Cup finals (losing all three), Ulster have not featured in a decider since 2012, Munster have been absent from the showpiece since winning the competition in 2008 while Connacht have not qualified since the 2021-22 season.
Leinster also provide the majority of players to the Irish national team, with 23 of Easterby’s 36-man Six Nations squad selected from Leo Cullen’s side.
Humphreys, however, does not believe such an imbalance will be “detrimental” for Irish rugby in the long run.
“For me, it’s very simple: it’s not about taking anything away from Leinster,” he said.
“No business in the world we’d look at the strongest asset and say ‘we have to take a bit away’ to do something else.
“For me, it’s about making sure that Leinster not just retain their status in European rugby but go on and win some European Cups, they’ve been so close.
“For the long-term success of Irish rugby, four competitive provinces, we have to get to that point.”
During his time as Ulster’s director of rugby, Humphreys recruited high-profile southern hemisphere players such as Ruan Pienaar, Johann Muller and John Afoa.
And with New Zealand’s Jordie Barrett having starred in the early stages of his loan spell at Leinster, Humphreys says there is “huge value” in having established overseas internationals playing alongside homegrown players in Ireland.
“For me, the model is: top quality international players playing alongside top quality Irish players.
“That, to me, is not a solution but a way to make sure Irish rugby becomes stronger at all levels of the game.”
