IRFU eases Munster Rugby financial burden

Munster Rugby may be in financial straits but it could be much worse if it wasn’t for the IRFU.

The southern province, 10 years on from its initial Heineken Cup final success over Biarritz, last night forecast a cash-flow deficit of €1.95 million for the year ending this June 30 and it still has a €10 million loan with the game’s governing body in Lansdowne Road following the 2008 redevelopment of Thomond Park.

Yet it has been given considerable relief on the debt in the form of loan negotiations, including a holiday from this year’s repayment of €200,000 and €1.1m in additional grant income.