Browne plays down player diktat on contracts

The IRFU’s chief executive has suggested the union will not seek to dictate which provinces its centrally contracted players should play for.

Philip Browne’s comments yesterday will be welcomed in Connacht, given the suggestions surrounding a switch to Leinster for Robbie Henshaw, as they, differ greatly from those of IRFU president Pat Fitzgerald last week.

Fitzgerald intimated in an interview on radio that players under contract with the union would have to switch clubs if told to do so by the national senior coach. Browne was far more circumspect without ever delivering a straight ‘yes’ or ‘no’.