Philip Browne Interview: Trying to spread the jam evenly

Placating the clubs and provinces is one thing. Convincing World Rugby to award the World Cup to Ireland another. IRFU chief executive Philip Browne is caught somewhere in the middle. And that’s before we get to a disappointing Six Nations and today’s must-not-lose clash with Italy. He spoke the business of rugby with our sports editor...

PHILIP BROWNE doesn’t need enhanced acoustics in his second floor office on Lansdowne Road to catch the mood at the Aviva Stadium. But if Ireland come up short against Italy in the Six Nations this afternoon, the downdraught will sweep up from the ground and in his door.

If projections aren’t everything to the chief executive of the Irish Rugby Football Union, they’ll do until everything arrives. Ticket projections. Provincial projections. World Cup bid projections. Winning projections.