Citing financial gap an easy excuse, claims Eoin Reddan

Eoin Reddan insists the provinces cannot afford to dwell on the growing financial gap between the Celtic clubs and their French and English counterparts as both Leinster and Munster come to terms with their discouraging European situations.

Reddan’s Leinster are already eliminated from the Champions Cup quarter-final race with two rounds to go having failed to win any of their first four games in Pool 5, while Munster’s hopes hang by the thinnest of threads after their back-to-back defeats to Leicester Tigers.

The scrum-half has always been an interesting interviewee when it comes to the bigger picture in rugby. His stint playing in England with Wasps has probably aided in that, but he preferred to focus instead yesterday on issues within his side’s control. The concession of 30 penalties in their two games against champions Toulon did more than anything to condemn them to the bottom of their pool before Christmas, though it was put to him that the chasm in finances was hardly something that can be ignored either.