Munster Rugby count heavy financial cost of European failure

Munster’s failure to reach the Champions Cup knockout stages is set to come with a heavy financial cost, with Sunday’s final pool game likely to be the first moment of impact.

Munster’s 33-10 round five loss at Saracens on Saturday means Anthony Foley’s side cannot reach the quarter-finals of European’s top-flight competition for only the second time in 17 years.

That makes Sunday’s home clash with Sale Sharks, also eliminated, a dead rubber, with the province facing the once unthinkable possibility of empty seats at Thomond Park for what should have been a pivotal European fixture.