Financial windfall for IRFU after Munster and Leinster Champions Cup wins

The IRFU is set to pocket a very welcome seven-figure sum as a result of Munster’s and Leinster’s Champions Cup quarter-final successes over the weekend with the eventual figure possibly stretching as high as €2m.

The prize fund for the latter stages of the Champions Cup doesn’t exactly equate to a pot of gold but the defeats of Toulon in Thomond Park and Saracens in the Aviva Stadium still mean that the Irish union will receive two cheques worth €300,000 in the post from organisers EPCR.

Winning the tournament outright would bring with it another reward of €600,000 to the IRFU while a losing finalist would deliver the consolation €400,000, so another €1m would be secured with an all-Ireland final in Bilbao next month.