IRFU must address Euro lure

Shane Horgan has warned that Leinster’s continuing success in Europe hinges on the IRFU doing its utmost to keep Ireland’s best homegrown players in the country.

Champions Leinster will contest a fourth successive Heineken Cup semi-final this weekend when they travel to Bordeaux to face ASM Clermont Auvergne on Sunday but their recently retired two-time Heineken Cup winner Horgan insists that prolonged success for the province’s golden era could not be considered if the likes of fellow backs Luke Fitzgerald and Jonny Sexton were not retained when their current deals ran out.

Fitzgerald, 24, is currently in negotiations with the IRFU over a new contract with Leinster concerned they may lose the exciting Ireland and Lions wing to a French club if a deal cannot be agreed with Irish rugby’s governing body.