BHA chief executive Nick Rust has confirmed an industry steering group is in place to consider the implications of the virus.

It comes as no surprise that a marketing executive should have a positive outlook about the future but a year into its sponsorship of Celtic League rugby, RaboDirect’s Maeve Moriarty has proof her company’s association is already reaping dividends.

IT’S funny how things change. A year ago this weekend, for instance, as Munster’s world was about to come crashing down in Toulon, Conor Murray was at Meadow Lane in Nottingham, helping his fellow young Academy hopefuls and fringe players in the Munster A team eke out a 15-14 win in the British & Irish Cup.

LEINSTER second row Nathan Hines is taking the mantra of ‘one game at a time’ to the extreme.

IT used to be all too easy to chide Leinster for their dependence on the south Dublin hinterland — on and off the pitch — but Saturday’s win wasn’t just forged on the fields of Blackrock or Clongowes.