Donal Lenihan: Munster and Ulster dealt cruel hands

There was a genuine fear not so long ago that European rugby, despite the magnificence of the Heineken Cup and the manner in which it transformed the club game over 15 years, could well have been consigned to history.

Unpalatable though that may have proved, the simple fact is that domestic rugby in France and England had the resources to go it alone if the revamped tournament wasn’t exactly to their liking.

The battle waged between the Dublin-based ERC and the representatives of Premiership Rugby (PRL) in England and the Ligue Nationale du Rugby (LNR) in France exposed the vulnerability of the professional game not only in Ireland but in Scotland, Wales and Italy to such an extent that in the end it proved a case of capitulate or die a slow death.