Power players : the most powerful people in Irish rugby

We look at the power brokers of Irish rugby and find out how they influence the game.

1 Tom Grace

In a governing body whose paid employees are answerable to so-called amateurs, Grace is the consummate and very professional Irish Rugby Football Union committee man. The former Ireland and British & Irish Lions wing brings the expertise of a career in management consultancy and insolvency as a Partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers to his role of honorary treasurer at the IRFU and chairman of the all-powerful Finance Committee. It doesn’t stop there, Grace is a member of the Player Contract Review Group, which has the power of veto of the signing of provincial players and goes into bat for the IRFU at the negotiating table when central contracts are up for discussion. With a reputation for playing hardball, Johnny Sexton may have flown the coop but lessons were learned and the expected exodus of Irish talent in this year’s round of talks has not materialised.