Peter Jackson: From brown envelopes in Milan to a Euro goldmine

Peter Jackson gets over the gain line, behind the headline

Way back then on a muddy field in a desolate corner of Milan, Niall Woods had no idea that what he started would catch on in a way Leinster could never have dared imagine.

They had succeeded in Europe at the first attempt, a largely anonymous debut win, scruffy enough to leave a couple of hundred curious Italians scratching their heads and the Irish visitors awaiting the delivery of their first brown envelopes. In return Leinster’s first prospectors had pointed the way, however unwittingly, to a veritable goldmine.