Fiona Hayes 'embarrassed' that Munster branch are behind the rest

Ballincolling women's coach Fiona Hayes is upset and embarrassed at the decision by the Munster Rugby branch not to proceed with a motion at the province's AGM that would have bestowed senior status on the club.

All men's and women’s team operating in the AIL in Connacht, Ulster and Leinster have 'senior’ status, which provides better access to committees and increased international ticket allocations.

The motion was withdrawn ahead of the last Friday's AGM with Munster Rugby saying it was "deferred" to allow for "appropriate consultation with all key stakeholders".

In a statement, Ballincollig said they were "shocked and disappointed", while director of rugby Denis Stevenson told the Irish Examiner: "We feel let down. We were told this would be in hand, there were 130 people in the room and when it came to the motions we were told that the women’s motions were withdrawn. No reason given."

The Munster branch said that it supports the motion but a review of relevant bye-laws and engagement with the stakeholders was needed.

Former Ireland player Hayes also outlined her disappointment when speaking to RTÉ's Morning Ireland: "Obviously we're the only club affected by this at the moment and I must stress, at the moment. There could be a lot of clubs down the line where their women's team reaches the AIL, but if they don't have a senior men's team they won't be considered a senior club."

Hayes added that Ballincolling, as a club, had done the groundwork in preparing the motion for the AGM.

"I'm just really disappointed that there was a lot of work gone in in the background. Denis Stevenson (president), Thérèse Ahern and president Jim Nyhan would have done a lot of work in getting that motion into Munster and pushing the women's team