Home comforts earn provinces €10.5m windfall

IRISH provinces will be chasing a financial jackpot this weekend as they look to secure a Heineken Cup quarter-final home draw, with local economies benefiting by up to €10.5 million, according to figures released by the tournament organisers.

The importance of securing a Heineken Cup quarter-final home draw has long been understood by coaches and players with ambitions of lifting European club rugby’s greatest prize but now the financial benefits have also been underlined by ERC.

With Munster travelling to Northampton looking for a sixth pool win from six that will give them a Thomond Park date in the last eight, and defending champions Leinster hosting Montpellier also looking to nail down a home draw in the knockout stages, figures released last night by ERC revealed that a €1m net profit per quarter-final last season was shared by the two clubs in each match with a further €438,000 per club distributed to their unions as meritocracy payments.