Revealed: The road forward for European club rugby

While Irish rugby is entitled to bask in the afterglow of our Six Nations success, I suspect each of the respective unions are more than pleased with developments off the field over the course of the championship.

Given the genuinely imminent threat that the professional game faced heading into 2014, the news that a workable formula for European rugby has now been agreed on and will be signed off this week will come as music to the ears of all parties concerned — not least the vast support base that buttresses the game across Europe.

While there may be some residual fallout from the brinkmanship, threats and tardy negotiations that brought professional rugby to the precipice of disaster, it’s time to move on and capitalise on the tangible benefits that the root and branch overhaul of the European game has produced.