IRFU confident provinces can survive financial pressures

Irish rugby’s governing body is confident the four provinces will survive current financial pressures amid the crisis engulfing the English club game.

Wasps last month entered administration and were suspended from the Gallagher Premiership, a week after divisional rivals Worcester were wound up.

The Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) on Friday announced it has exceeded expectations for the year ended July 31st, 2022 by recording an operating surplus of €5.9million but is forecasting deficits for each of the next three years.

While he acknowledged challenging times lie ahead, IRFU chief executive Kevin Potts is optimistic Connacht, Leinster, Munster and Ulster will pull through.

“I don’t really want to comment on the specific clubs, but it’s really important for professional rugby that you operate with the funds you have with certainty,” he said.

“I don’t believe it will have any impact here as long as – and I believe it will be the case – the four provinces and ourselves operate our models on a sustainable basis.

“Obviously we have sympathy for all of the players who are coming out of contract or losing their jobs because of this but in a strange way it might have a deflating impact, perhaps, on player costs in general.

“In professional sport, if you don’t have a sustainable model you are going to run into trouble.

“That (a sustainable model) is what we are determined to ensure is the case here.”

IRFU bosses, who endured combined losses of almost €47m in the previous two years amid the global pandemic, had predicted a deficit of €4.9m for 2021-22.

The better-than-expected results were largely attributed to fans returning to Ireland Test matches sooner than anticipated following the outbreak of coronavirus, the receipt in