France played host to the 2007 tournament but as usual there was some politics involved and the Millennium stadium in Cardiff was awarded three pool games and a quarter-final. While Scotland would host two of their pool games at Murrayfield. Ireland were also given the option of hosting pool matches in advance of the tournament, but declined the offer as Lansdowne rd was under redevelopment at the time. 

The tournament ran for 44 days between 7th September and 20th October, Eddie O’Sullivan’s Irish side however, crashed out before September was over. It was a massively anti-climatic end to a tournament that promised so much for Ireland’s golden generation of players. 

In the 2007 Six Nations campaign prior to the World Cup the low point and the highlight for Ireland both came in home games at Croke Park. In the former, Vincent Clerc’s last minute try consigned them to a sickening 17-20 defeat to France. While in the latter, 83,000 witnessed a sensational 43-13 win over England. Away wins over Wales, Scotland and Italy saw Ireland secure their third triple crown in four years and just miss out on the championship on points difference to France.

Ireland prepared for the tournament with a training camp in Spala, Poland. It’s Cryotherapy centre and ice baths according to coach Eddie O’Sullivan “allows the players to train harder and, more importantly, recover more quickly from their physical exertion.” The benefits, it would transpire later, would catch up with the team in the long run.

The warm-up games saw a 31-21 defeat to Scotland at Murrayfield, a dubious Ronan O’Gara try in the 9th minute of injury time saw them avoid defeat against Italy in Belfast (23-20) and a the infamous battle of Bayonne saw them almost lose captain Brian O’Driscoll after being blindsided by second row Mikaera Tewhata. (https://www.rte.ie/sport/rugby/2007/0816/221635-ireland1/)

Ireland, it was acknowledged, were in a tricky pool. Pool D was give the group of death tag, as it contained 3 of the top 6 IRB ranked teams going into the tournament. France (3rd), Ireland (5th) and Argentina (6th) ensured there would be one high profile casualty at the group stage. While Georgia (17th) and Namibia(24th) were expected to make up the numbers. 

9th September 2007: Ireland 32 Namibia 17

There was no hint of what was to come in the opening half as Ireland started well in Stade Chaban-Delmas, Bordeaux. O’Driscoll chipped over the Namibian defence to score the games opening try after just 5 minutes. A second try followed on 18 minutes after a Ronan O’Gara cross-field kick was by Andrew Trimble and after powerful break from Denis Leamy the ball was recycled to Simon Easterby who added a third Irish try before the break. Eight minutes after the restart Ireland were awarded a penalty try and O’Gara’s easy conversion gave Ireland a 27-3 lead. 

Shortly before the hour mark the Namibian’s got a foothold with a try from Jacques Nieuwenhuis and within two minutes they went over again, this time centre Piet van Zyl hacked on a kick over the top from flyhalf Henini Bock and gathered to score. The conversion closed the gap to 10 points. Ireland had went from being dominant to looking like a boxer on the ropes within the space of a few minutes. The Namibians kept coming and the Irish had to put their bodies on the line to repel them. A contentious Jerry Flannery try against the run on play with four minutes to go put a gloss on the scoreline that Ireland scarcely deserved.

15th September 2007: Ireland 14 Georgia 10

Ireland were back in action in Stade Chaban-Delmas six days later. If the last twenty minutes of the Namibian game was a warning on tiredness within the squad, then it certainly went unheeded by the management. Ireland were to get an almighty scare against the Georgians. Eddie O’Sullivan made only one change from the side that started against Namibia. Fit again Shane Horgan replaced Andrew Trimble on the wing. 

After 17minutes Rory Best found a way through the resolute Georgian defence for the games first score and O’Gara converted to give Ireland a seven point lead. However, they never built on the score and the floodgates failed to open after that as Ireland were dragged into a war of attrition. Referee Wayne Barnes sent David Wallace to the bin and Kvirikashvilli kicked the resulting penalty to leave the scoreboard reading 7-3 at the break. 

Ireland came out with renewed purpose in the second half and started to push the tempo. But a shock was on the card when against the run of play Georgian winger Giorgi Shinkin intercepted a Peter Stringer pass to race in from 70 yards out. After the conversion Georgia were 10-7 ahead. Normal service seemed to be resumed on 53 minute when slick wing play from O’Driscoll and replacement hooker Jerry Flannery sent fullback Girvan Dempsey over in the corner.

Ronan O’Gara’s tricky conversion was to later prove crucial as it pushed the opposition out of penalty or drop goal range. The Georgians went on to dominate both territory and possession for the final twenty minutes of the game as they went in search of a try that would give them their first ever World Cup win. Irish player later spoke of feeling as if they were playing with lead in their legs during that final quarter. 

Ireland were in full crisis mode as the repelled wave after wave of Georgia attack, on 78 minutes Denis Leamy prevented a certain try by getting his body under the ball as Georgia looked to have forced their way over. There was relief for all in green when the Argentina TMO returned the verdict of ‘held up’.

21st September 2007: France 25 Ireland 3

Once again there was a six day turnaround for the Irish. The venue this time was Stade de France to face the hosts. A 12-17 defeat to Argentina for the French in their opening game  made it a must win game for Bernard Laporte’s side. Another defeat would see them become the first hosts to fail to qualify from their pool, so in Irish minds all the pressure was on France. 

Once again O’Sullivan sent the same forward pack into battle for their third game in 12 days. Two changes in back division saw Peter Stringer dropped for Eoin Reddan and Andrew Trimble replace Denis Hickie on the left wing. 

Ireland started well and threatened the French line on a couple of occasions within the opening twenty minutes. However, they were soon outclassed as France aggressively tore into O’Sullivan’s side. Four penalties from Jean-Baptise Elissalde to a solitary O’Gara drop goal saw the French go in at the break 12-3. Ireland were even flatter in the second half as Elissalde added another penalty and his Toulouse teammate Vincent Clerc scored a brace of tries. The defeat left Ireland on the bring of their first pool stage exit.

30th September 2007: Ireland 15 Argentina 30

The fact that Ireland failed to get a bonus point in their match against Georgia meant that even a win against Argentina wouldn’t ensure a quarter-final spot. Indeed it was a very tall order for O’Sullivan’s side as they needed a bonus point win while denying the Argentines a losing bonus and a thirty point margin of victory in order to progress. 

Ireland started the opening half full of ambition and intent. They turned down a couple of kickable penalties and opted to go to the corner instead, but the try they were searching for never came. Instead it was the Argentines who were first to breach the whitewash. Scrum-half and captain Agustin Pichot sent winger Lucas Borges in for the games opening score. Argentina stretched their lead thanks to a Juan Martín Hernández drop goal before Brian O’Driscoll gave Ireland hope with a 32nd minute try. Ronan O’Gara’s conversion put Ireland 10-8 ahead. That hope however was quickly extinguished when another Hernández drop-goal and a try from Horacio Agulla sent Argentina in at the break 18-10 ahead.

A Filipe Contepomi penalty after the restart increased the lead, before the gap was narrowed to 6 points by a Geordan Murphy try on 47 minutes. That was as close as Ireland would get as two more Contepomi penalties and a third drop-goal of the game for Hernández sent Ireland crashing out.

What happened after that?

Ireland’s golden generation went crashing out, Argentina topped the pool and went on to beat Scotland in the quarters 19-13, before being crushed 37-13 by winners South Africa in the semi-finals. For runners-up France second place in the pool meant that the hosts had to travel to Cardiff to face the All-Blacks. In a phenomenal second-half performance the French edged it 20-18 despite trailing by thirteen points at one stage in the first half. They returned as heroes to Paris for the semi-final, which in typically mercurial French fashion they promptly lost to England. 

Eddie O’Sullivan and his coaching team came in for much criticism on their return home and a 4th place finish after defeats to England, France and Wales in the 2008 Six Nations sealed his fate. He was replaced as Ireland coach by fellow Corkonian Declan Kidney.

Irish World Cup Squad 2007

Forwards: Neil Best, Rory Best, Simon Best, Simon Easterby, Stephen Ferris, Jerry Flannery, John Hayes, Marcus Horan, Denis Leamy, Donncha O’Callaghan, Paul O’Connell, Malcolm O’Kelly, Alan Quinlan, Frankie Sheahan, David Wallace, Bryan Young.

Backs: Isaac Boss, Brian Carney, Gordon D’Arcy, Girvan Dempsey, Gavin Duffy, Denis Hickie, Shane Horgan, Geordan Murphy, Brian O’Driscoll (captain), Ronan O’Gara, Eoin Reddan, Peter Stringer, Andrew Trimble, Paddy Wallace.

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After the historic  and dramatic 1995 tournament in South Africa, the World Cup in ’99 would always find it difficult to reach the heights of four years previous. Officially the 1999 World Cup was to be hosted by Wales, with the showpiece event taking place in the newly built Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. However, like the 1991 tournament, there were games spread over 18 different venues in England, France, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. 

Ireland had undergone a turbulent time since the 1995 World Cup. Gerry Murphy had stepped down after that tournament and was replaced by the IRFU’s first professional head-coach, former Garryowen and Sunday’s Well manager Murray Kidd. His reign lasted under a year and a half and he stepped down after a 29-37 home defeat to Italy in January 1997. Bath’s Brian Ashton was next to take up the Irish hot seat, but a Five Nations defeat by Scotland at Lansdowne Road the following March saw his make a quick exit. Connacht young Kiwi coach Warren Gatland was promoted to the role and almost got Ireland off to a winning start in Paris, only for a late Raphael  Ibanez try to win it 18-16 for the home side. 

The 1999 Five Nations saw Ireland lose at home to France by a single point (9-10), before winning 23-29 away to Wales (The match was played in Wembley stadium, London as the Arms Park had been demolished to make way for the building of the new Millennium Stadium). But that was to be the highpoint for Gatland’s side as they went on to lose 15-27 at home to England and lost 30-13 in their final game away to Scotland. 

New Format

The increase from sixteen teams at pervious World Cup tournaments to a twenty team competition this time around meant a change in format. An over elaborate system was devised with five pool of 4 teams each and a play-off round prior to the quarter-finals between the five pool runners-up and the best third placed team. The winners of the three play-off games would then face three pool winners, while in the fourth quarter-final two pool winners would be drawn against each other.

Ireland played host to the Pool E matches, spread between Lansdowne Road, Ravenhill and Thomond Park. Our group contained previous tournament winners Australia, the United States and Romania. 

2nd October 1999: Ireland 53 USA 8

First up for a Warren Gatland coached Irish side were the United States. Ireland were already three points to the good when Justin Bishop went over for the first of seven Irish tries after only 6 minutes. The Eagles scrum-half Kevin Dalzell gathered an Irish knock-on and raced home for a try for the visitors before a twenty year-old Brian O’Driscoll then scored his first World Cup try. Irish hooker Keith Wood scored four more tries for the Gatland’s side. While a penalty try, 6 conversions (2 Elwood, 4 Humphreys) and 2 David Humphreys penalties accounted for Ireland’s final tally of 53 points.

10th October 1999: Ireland 3 Australia 23

After an easy pool opener for the Irish there was a much tougher prospect in store against Rod McQueen’s Wallabies. Penalties from Matthew Burke and John Eales gave the visitors a 6 point lead at the break. Humphrey’s got Ireland off the mark with a 52nd minute penalty. However, second-half tries from Tim Horan and Ben Tune decided an encounter which was more memorable for the physicality of play rather than the quality of rugby. Aussie hooker Phil Kearns and Ireland’s Malcom O’Kelly and Trevor Brennan all needed medical attention due to blood injuries in a tough first half. Brennan would go on to trade blows with the Wallabies back row Toutai Kefu in the second half. Despite a stern dressing down from match official Clayton Thomas both men escaped without a card. 

After the game Warren Gatland expressed his frustration at the Irish performance: “I was very disappointed with our performance, although we were beaten by a very good Australian team,” said Gatland. “We didn’t really fire a shot. We let ourselves down out there.”

15th October 1999: Ireland 44 Romania 14

Gatland’s side returned to winning ways with an emphatic thirty point win over tier two side  Romania. Tries from Dion O’Cuinneagain, Tony Ward, Tom Tierney and a brace from Conor O’Shea along with 16 points from the boot of Eric Elwood and an injury time drop-goal from Brian O’Driscoll saw Ireland coast to victory. 

This sequence of results saw us finish second in group E and thereby qualify for a playoff game against Argentina who had finished second in Pool D behind Wales, after wins over Samoa and Japan for Los Pumas.

October 1999: Argentina 28  Ireland 24

The pre-quarter final playoff game took place in the French city of Lens and to this day for Irish rugby fans that venue is synonymous with this match. Ireland went into this match highly confident of victory. They had beaten the Argentines in a warm-up game at Lansdowne rd that August by 32-24 without a host of front-line players and there were expected to win this comfortably. 

Indeed Warren Gatland was somewhat over-confident before the game “We have one of the better scrums in the World Cup and we will be looking to dominate them. I don’t believe the Argentina scrum is as strong as it was ten to 12 years ago,” he said. Gatland didn’t start either  Paddy Johns or Peter Clohessy as he had one eye on the next round. In an interesting sub-plot Los Pumas were coached by former Canterbury and New Zealand coach, Alex “Grizz” Wyllie. During Wyllie’s time as All-Black head coach (1988-91) he failed to pick Waikato based Gatland in a full International for the All-Blacks. Gatland would end his playing career having started 17 times in non-international matches (mostly mid-week touring games) for the All-Blacks without picking up that illusive All-Black cap. 

As it transpired that confidence was misplaced. In a dour game Ireland never found any space and struggled to get the ball out wide as both packs dominated the play. A whistle happy Stuart Dickinson didn’t help matters and the game became a kicking contest. David Humphreys and Gonzalo Quesada struck seven penalties apiece. Ireland held a 6 point advantage at the break, leading by 15-9. However, their discipline let them down in the second half as the started conceding penalties with worrying regularity. The Argentines also had a similar issue giving Ireland’s Humphreys plenty of kicking practice, after 65mins Ireland were 24-18 ahead.

Diego Albanese crossed for the games only try on 72mins, when Quesada added the conversion it put the Argentines ahead for the first time in the match. Another penalty for Quesada five minutes later meant a four point gap and that only a late try would be enough to see Ireland snatch victory. They pummelled the Argentine line in desperation, Paul Wallace came within inches of scoring, but the Argentines held out and Dickinson’s full-time whistle brought scenes of unbridled joy for Los Pumas, while the Irish players and fans lay slummed in shock and despair.

Aftermath

The fallout from Ireland’s exit wouldn’t be immediate, but it would be bitter. Warren Gatland’s tenure as Irish coach survived a post World Cup vote of confidence from the IRFU committee. But it was only a temporary reprieve as the axe fell in November 2001. The timing of the sacking was bizarre given the improvement Ireland had made since the disappointing World Cup exit. Gatland had undoubtedly improved Ireland’s fortunes and while his 18 wins from 38 games doesn’t initially look impressive it was a more successful ratio than either of his predecessors. The fact that his assistant Eddie O’Sullivan was appointed to take over from him only added to the sense that the motivations were political rather than base purely on performance.  

Irish World Cup Squad 1999

Conor O’Shea, Gordon D’Arcy, Justin Bishop, James Topping, Matt Mostyn, Kevin Maggs, Brian O’Driscoll, Jonathan Bell, Mike Mullins, David Humphreys, Eric Elwood, Tom Tierney, Brian O’Meara, Paul Wallace, Peter Clohessy, Reggie Corrigan, Justin Fitzpatrick, Angus McKeen, Keith Wood, Ross Nesdale, Paddy Johns, Jeremy Davidson, Malcolm O’Kelly, Bob Casey, Dion O’Cuinneagain, Eric Miller, David Corkery, Trevor Brennan, Andy Ward, Kieron Dawson. Gordon D’Arcy was added as a late replacement for the injured Girvan Dempsey. 

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As one of the founder members of the International Rugby Football Board (IRFB), Ireland automatically qualified for the first Rugby World Cup. The hosts Australia and New Zealand along with other four board members were England, Scotland, Wales, and France were also guaranteed a place. South Africa also had a seat on the IRFB board but were not invited due to a sporting embargo caused by the pro-apartheid policies of their government.

The IRFB also issued invitations to nice associate members to bring the tournament total up to 16 teams. Argentina, Canada, Fiji, Italy, Japan, Romania, Tonga, United States and Zimbabwe all made the trip to Australia and New Zealand for the inaugural competition.

Pool Two

Ireland were drawn in Pool 2 alongside Wales, Canada and Tonga. However, disaster struck before their opening game. Ireland’s coach and former international player, Mick Doyle, suffered a heart attack at the opening dinner in New Zealand. He was admitted to hospital in Auckland to recover, but the Kerryman made a good recovery and was back in charge before the end of the Pool stages.

Ireland lost their opener to the Welsh on the 25th May in Wellington by 6-13, Mark Ring got the only try of the game for the Welsh and two Jonathan Davies drop goals made sure of the result. Ireland’s scores coming from two Michael Kiernan penalties. 

Five days later they were in action again, this time in Dunedin against Canada. It was to prove a comfortable 46-19 win for the Irish. Keith Crossan (2), Michael Bradley, Brian Spillane, Trevor Ringland and Hugo MacNeill accounting for the tally of seven Irish tries. Michael Kiernan converted five of the tries and also added two penalties. The Canadian hooker, Mark Cardinal, crossed for their only try, while Wasps player Gareth Rees kicked three penalties and a drop-goal. 

Before their final pool game against Tonga on the 3rd of June, the Irish squad had to move camp from the South Island of New Zealand to Brisbane in Australia. The Irish enjoyed another convincing win in front of only 4,000 at a rather empty-looking Ballymore. Irish Centre, Brendan Mullin, ran in a hat-trick of tries and Hugo McNeill added another two, as the Irish outscored their Tongan opponents 5 tries to nil. Three conversions and two penalties from Tony Ward also added gloss to Ireland’s 32-9 win.

Our first Quater-Final exit

Second spot in Pool 2 gave Ireland a tough quarter-final assignment against the winners of Pool 1. In the key match in that pool the co-hosts Australia had beaten England 19-6 to seal top spot, so it was off to Sydney to take on the formidable challenge of a quick and skillful Aussie side.

Ireland were up against and needed a good start against their more illustrious opponents.  Unfortunately, it was the home side who struck first after there minutes. A fired up Philip Matthews launched himself into the air in an attempt to block down Nick Farr-Jones’ garryowen and as he turned his body away from Farr-Jones he caught him square in the face with his hip.  Match referee Scotland’s Brain Anderson awarded a penalty to the home side, which Michael Lynagh duly converted. An illustration of how refereeing has changed since 1987 is illustrated by the fact that a carbon copy of this incident saw CJ Stander receive a straight red card after catching Patrick Lambie under almost identical circumstances during Ireland’s 2016 tour to South Africa. 

The injured Nick Farr-Jones was replaced at scrum-half soon after by Brian Smith, who would later go on to represent Ireland. Andy McIntyre got the games first try after both Michael Bradley and Hugo McNeill spurned chances to clear the ball. The substitute Smith added a second try off the back of a five-meter scrum a few minutes later.  Shortly after the scoreline got worse from an Irish perspective, when their defence was torn open by Matthew Burke for a third Aussie try. At half-time, Ireland were 24-0 behind and a rout was on the cards. 

Another Lynagh penalty after the break increased Australia’s lead to 27 points. Ireland finally broke their duck when Michael Kiernan converted a penalty to take the bare look off the scoreboard. Quick hands from the Australian backline saw Matthew Burke cross for his second try before a late mini-revival from the Irish side. Hugo MacNeill gave the travelling fans something to cheer about with cheeky dummy creating space after a cleverly worked move off the back of a tap and go penalty from 5 meters out. Ireland added a second try late in the game from Michael Kiernan, which came after a great bursting drive from prop Phillip Orr and a strong carry from Phillip Matthews. The final score read Australia 33 Ireland 15

Little did we know at the time, but a quarter-final exit was to become a familiar theme for Irish rugby. 

After Ireland’s exit….

The Australians fell at the next hurdle, as the hosts went down by 24-30 against the French in the semi-finals. While in the other semi-final, our pool opponents Wales suffered a heavy 49-6 defeat to the All-Blacks.

New Zealand became the first side to lift the Webb-Ellis Cup after defeating France 29-9 in front of their home crowd at Eden Park, Aukland. Grant Fox was the star of the show with a conversion, a drop-goal and four penalties.

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Ireland’s most decorated rugby player is in the twilight of his career after spending 15 years at provincial side Leinster. After over 200 competitive appearances for the club and nearly a century of caps for the Boys in Green he felt it was time to try something new.

Before returning to his boyhood Gaelic football club Cooley Kickhams for a few games, he spent six months down under playing for Western Force.

Speaking at a media event for the new season of rugby on Premier Sport yesterday, Kearney spoke about his short stay in Australia:

“I had a great time away in Australia. It was almost the perfect final six months for me to get away and I’d always planned to play outside Ireland, and I suppose the older I got and the longer my contracts with Leinster and the [Irish Rugby] Union went on, the less likely it became.”

Rob Kearney has just scored his first Super Rugby try for the Western Force.

Great draw and pass from Kyle Godwin, Domingo Miotti and Richard Kahui to move the ball into the space here#BLUvFOR #SuperRugbyTT #IrishAbroad pic.twitter.com/pCSoc3wnQd

— EK Rugby Analysis (@ek_rugby) June 12, 2021

The Louth man only managed eight caps while playing for the Perth club, scoring a single try against the Blues.

The accomplished defender noted the challenges when moving to the new club. He understood that Southern hemisphere rugby was more focused on attack than defense and he knew he could still improve in places.

“[If] you’re a 35-year-old fullback, the changes have already been made for you, I was down there very much with the mindset that aerial game, kicking game, backfield coverages was going to be the areas, to play my strengths,” added Kearney.

Rob Kearney had form in this area of course.

Remember that time he did this from a similar position of the pitch for Ireland ‘A’ against New Zealand Maori in 2006. pic.twitter.com/8Kxyqlv4yf

— Cian Tracey (@CianTracey1) April 14, 2020

While in Australia, he also found some of the cultural differences to be a shock. Although the Wallabies have been a powerhouse in international rugby for many years, it is still not one of the more popular sports in the country.

Union rugby has to compete with the ASL, cricket, and emerging soccer to get more schoolboys and girls playing the game in the fields.

Because of this, Kearney understands the importance of the nation’s double victory of the Springbok, especially the home win on Saturday.

“It is very different, Rugby Union is very much down the pecking order, and you do feel for the Australians a little bit that the game is under real pressure there,” the rugby player added.

“That’s why that win at the weekend was huge for them, not just from that group of players but for the game as a whole in the country,”

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This is despite ongoing work across the professional and domestic game to ensure the continuing safe participation in rugby.

Patrick Kennedy, Honorary Treasurer, told delegates at the online meeting that despite many positive developments such as the ongoing vaccination rollout, successful pilot test events and the gradual relaxation of government restrictions, that rugby is “far from out of the woods”.

Kennedy outlined that without the assistance and commitment of government, sponsors, broadcasters, and patrons the IRFU would not have survived as it has, and that continued support remains vital.

The IRFU’s financial year end would move permanently to 31th July, to ensure alignment with the new global season. Kennedy confirmed that a full financial update will be issued from the Union in November.

At the meeting it was confirmed that current President, Des Kavanagh, Senior Vice President, John Robinson and Junior Vice President, Greg Barrett, will remain in their respective roles for the forthcoming season.

On the day that Munster’s Fiona Steed and Connacht’s Yvonne Comer were appointed to the Union Committee, delegates were reminded that, from 2023 a minimum of one in four nominees to the IRFU Committee from each Province must be female.

Speaking of the challenging environment Philip Browne, CEO, told irishrugby.ie:

“Irish Rugby is continuing to grapple with the most significant financial crisis in our history and we are expecting to report another year of losses in 2021, when our audited accounts are released later this year.”

What a day. ENGLAND v IRELAND 23/02/2020#SportsPhotography #Rugby #England #Ireland #EnglandRugby #IrishRugby #Twickenham #ENGvIRE #MothsLoveLight pic.twitter.com/Fk1mqMBUZy

— Cat Goryn | Photographer (@catgorynphoto) February 24, 2020

Why are the IRFU losing money?

The key issue remains the absence of fans at provincial grounds and the Aviva Stadium. The IRFU continues to address this particularly through its active participation in the cross-sport working party on return of fans to stadiums.

“We have made encouraging progress in recent weeks with the return of increasing numbers of supporters to various sporting and cultural events, which leaves us hopeful that fans may return in meaningful numbers to our grounds in Autumn.

“As the only sporting organisation fully supporting a professional game, we are dependent on the national and provincial teams’ ability to generate revenues which have been decimated by the impact of COVID restrictions since March 2020.” Browne added.

Looking back at his most challenging season at the helm of Irish Rugby, Browne said that the IRFU had to implement a 10% permanent cost base reduction, approved by the Union in March of this year and with that came some difficult decisions.

“As in many industries, regrettably we have had job losses and pay cuts across the organisation for the last 12 months while we also eliminated all non-critical overheads.” Browne added.

#Ireland7s

𝙒𝙚'𝙧𝙚 𝙍𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙮! #TokyoOlympics #IrishRugby #ShoulderToShoulder #IreM7s pic.twitter.com/GU3PKYUD4F

— Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) July 25, 2021

Further government funding needed

Browne also outlined that the IRFU will be making a submission for further government funding in 2021 if possible.

The meeting heard that the bulk of the 2021 losses are already realised as the 2020/21 season has now concluded. The IRFU, alone, has suffered a 47% reduction in turnover for the six months to the end of June 2021, compared to the first half of 2019.

Browne explained: “Our two largest income-generating home games every two years against England and France were held behind closed doors with a loss of match income of over €16m. These are the games that keep Irish Rugby going.”

“Without additional government funding in 2021, and a return of fans to our stadia in meaningful numbers later this year, the IRFU would once again have to review all activities and swiftly implement another round of very unpalatable cost reductions. Further cuts, if necessary, would have a significant impact on the organisation and all activities from grassroots to pro game pathways.”

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RTE Sport report that the Pro14 have agreed a 28% stake with the private equity and investment advisory group. It follows after CVC acquired a 27% stake in the English Rugby Premiership. CEO of the IRFU, Philip Browne said he was delighted with the announcement. He said the deal will be worth over €33 million to the IRFU, with a payment of €5.5 million euro expected today.

However, in worrying news, Browne revealed that the IRFU are facing losses of between €15 and €20 million if the remaining Six Nations games and November Internationals don’t go ahead. He stated, “The announcement of CVC’s investment in the Guinness Pro14 League is very positive news, not just for the financial benefits it brings, but, almost as importantly at this time, for the confidence it shows in the Pro14 tournament and the game of rugby in general.”

The PRO 14  also released a statement confirming the news they had sold a 28% to CVC. They said,” The partnership commitment will allow both Pro14 Rugby and the Irish, Italian, Scottish and Welsh rugby unions to continue to invest in the sport, both professional and amateur, to achieve its potential over the long term”.

They stated that a portion of the investment will be held at Pro14 rugby, while some will also be kept for the business and updating league operations. Furthermore, they said, As part of this agreement, the Federazione Italiana Rugby (FIR), will also become a member of Celtic Rugby DAC, and receive a share of the investment.

Finally  IRFU  have stated they hope to resume action towards the end of August. It is hoped that there will be a series of provincial derbies within each of the five countries. The league hopes to resume on 23rd and 24th of August. However, it is also hoped that the new season will also begin in October. Of course all of these dates will have to be approved by government and the department of health.

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