- ‘Saints’ relegated, Newcastle West can yet lift the MJL1 title
- AIL defeats for Shannon, ‘Munsters’, Bruff and Thomond
- Terrific wins for UL Bohemian and Old Crescent tonight in AIL2A
- Bonus point win as Munster prove too strong for the Southern Kings in Cork
- Kings will need to be in regal form to deprive Munster of home victory
- Important games for Limerick clubs as the AIL resumes action this week-end
- Tension mounts as local clubs feature in second last fence of Munster Junior League 1
- Ireland’s rising injury list would comfortably fill a few hospital corridor trollies
- Impressive win for Clonmel on UL pitch keeps them on title target
- Retention of Six Nations back on track
- Ireland will be desperate to retain interest in another Six Nations title
- Richmond can do Newcastle West a favour on the UL 4G surface
- Will Joe Schmidt ring the changes for the Scottish game?
- Cancellations a-plenty as Munster Junior Cup gathers momentum
- Henshaw at full-back not really a gamble as Ireland name their team
- Ian excited about exploring new horizons as he plans two moves
- Nine local clubs in Bank of Ireland Munster Junior Cup action this week-end
- UL Bohemian and Thomond advance in the Bank of Ireland Munster Junior Cup
- Abbeyfeale lift the Transfield Cup for the first time since 1977
- Young Munster facing battle to avoid the drop
- Munster fight hard for victory in Rodney Parade
- Bonus point for Garryowen as Shannon fail to build on recent form
- Heineken Champions Cup quarter-finals guaranteed to thrill the fans
- Transfield and Munster Junior cups take centre stage on Sunday
- Injuries to Tadhg Beirne and Andrew Conway are reported this morning
- Speculation regarding home country advantage in the semi-finals
- Newcastle West are back in the race for the junior league title
- Munster fans will be preparing for visit to Scottish capital
- AIL: Shannon win, Young Munster and Garryowen lose today in 1A
- AIL wins tonight for Old Crescent in 2A and Thomond in 2C
- John Ryan for Archer the only change on the Munster team
- Key Euro games for referees Neville, Clancy, Brace and Lacey
- Frank Quinn’s review of the final pools games of Heineken Cup
- Decent Munster representation on Ireland Six Nations squad
- English clubs’ wretched record at Thomond Park: 21 defeats, 2 wins
- A Newcastle view as their side fails to get winning bonus point
- Is the Transfield Cup final to take place in the Markets Field?
- Defeat for Richmond today dents their junior league title hopes
- Brave Garryowen’s late strike gives them ticket to Bateman decider
- Munster march on towards another home Heineken Cup quarter final
- Munster and Gloucester announce their teams for to-morrow night’s game
- All to play for as Munster Junior League division one hots up
- Garryowen keen to avoid their third successive cup defeat
- Munster’s Ian Keatley seems set to join Benetton Treviso
- Leinster are still the favourites to retain the Champions Cup
- Thomond and Bruff advance in cup: Newcastle drop league points
- Munster superb as they hold on for bonus point victory
- Munster’s away form will again be tested in the Showgrounds
- Munster Senior Cup retains its magic as Garryowen seek more glory
- Leinster’s winger James Lowe is suspended for two weeks
Frank Quinn takes a look at the latest world rugby news
- Updated: 16/04/2018

FRANK Quinn takes at look at what is happening throughout the rugby world.
The transfer market:
Players from South Africa transfer to Guinness PRO14 clubs for the price of a house on one year’s salary.
Four players from the Cheetahs and the Kings have signed £ sterling contracts with PRO14 Clubs in the last month alone, the players are on view every week for the predators from the north. It looks like the Euro currency clubs are not as interested or maybe have their quota of foreign players already (2 per match can be accommodated) The Rand, SA currency, is currently trading consistently at 15 for a euro and 17 for sterling, five years ago it was trading at 10 to a €1`.
The cost of a four bedroomed house in the “good location” areas in South Africa is approx. €100,000, and annual salaries for PRO14 Clubs would be above this depending on the individual player. The general average minimum cost of a house in Dublin area is €300,000.
Toyota Cheetahs Player Movement.
TOYOTA Cheetahs moved quickly to try to sign up their squad as quickly before the raiders stepped in from Europe
“Free State Cheetahs (Pty) Ltd is delighted to announce that the contracting committee have so far finalised and signed 23 player contracts for the next season and or beyond.”
However squads need to have 35 players at least, this week in April 2018, Ospreys (Coach Allen Clarke) has 21 players injured – not available. During the Six Nations, Leinster would have been similarly hamstrung by the Irish squad selections – with plus 20 players called up by Joe Schmidt
The coach said: “Currently more negotiations with senior players in the present Cheetahs group and from outside the province, are taking place and will soon be finalised.”
“New exciting names added to the list are the fly halves Benhard Janse van Rensburg and Louis Fouche and loose forward, Aidon Davis. Benhard joined the Toyota Cheetahs for training on Tuesday while Davis and Fouche will report in Bloemfontein on 1 July 2018.
Benhard Janse van Rensburg
FLY half, Benhard Janse van Rensburg has joined the Toyota Cheetahs on Tuesday, 3 April in Bloemfontein.
Benhard was included in 2016 in a South Africa Under-20 training squad, but wasn’t initially included in the final South Africa Under-20 squad for the World Rugby Under 20 Championship tournament in Manchester, England.
Midway through 2016, Janse van Rensburg joined the Sharks. He was included in their squad for the 2016 Currie Cup Premier Division, but instead made two appearances for the Sharks U21 in the 2016 Under-21 Provincial Championship. At the end of October 2016, Van Rensburg was included in the Sharks Super Rugby squad for the 2017 season.
Date of birth – 14 January 1997 / Height – 1.85 m / Weight – 88 kg”
Worcester Report £8m Loss For 2016-17
WORCESTER Warriors have reported to Companies House that their pre-tax loss for last season (year end 30th June 2017) was £8.1m despite increased revenue of almost £1m.
The Premiership club had reported a pre-tax profit for WRFC Trading Ltd of £14.3m the previous year due to shareholders writing off more than £20.4m of accumulated debt.
2nd last in Premiership table, – Just above London Irish (Kiss & Kidney), This is a huge loss after the write off. And you have to speculate if such losses can be sustained and exaggerated by poor results in the current season
Bath Record £0.8m Loss On Increased Revenue In 2016-17
BATH Rugby have reported a pre-tax loss of £0.8m (€0.92m) on annual revenue of £18.6m (€21.4m) for year ending 30th June 2017. Revenues have grown by 10% in the last year. In 2015-16 season Bath Rugby Ltd returned a £1.1m loss after tax on revenues of £16.9m.
The reported loss after tax of £2.5m accounts for investment in the West Stand, which increased the capacity at their famous stadium at the REC to 14,500 for the 2017/18 season.
English Premiership Confirm Gallagher Partnership
ENGLAND’S Premierahip Rugby have confirmed they have agreed a “multi-year strategic business and marketing partnership” with insurance giant Gallagher.
The new partnership starts on July 1, and the competition will be known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby when it kicks off on 31 August, with naming rights, branding opportunities and local community programmes included in the agreement.
Neither party have yet to state the value of the deal nor when it is due to end.
From one insurance group to another – they have the cash it seems and like the rugby connection for business
World Rugby’s China Deal (For 1.5 billion people), with Ali Sports On Hold:
ALISPORTS’ US$100 million investment to develop rugby in China for the 1.5 Billion Chinese – has been temporarily halted according to Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post as the world governing body assesses the fall-out of sweeping changes in mainland sports governance.
World Rugby CEO Brett Gosper said at the HK Sevens last week that gradual changes implemented by China sports minister Gou Zhongwen has trickled down to various sporting bodies in the country and the China Rugby Union is one of those affected.
Any deal in China is worth waiting for – so World Rugby will keep their powder dry on this one, the potential scale is huge – considering Ireland with 6m people
World Rugby Ranked Best Olympic Federation On Social Media
WORLD Rugby is this year’s best-performing international sports governing body on social The measured the social media performance of 35 International Federations recognised by the International Olympic Committee from March 2017 to February 2018.
The agency measured the social media performance of 35 international federations recognised by the International Olympic Committee from March 2017 to February 2018.
Of course we were not there in the last Olympics 2016, due to the fact that the IRFU has only recently embraced the 7’s game which “has never caught on” after several attempts to promote it in this country. The last serious effort was at Thomond Park for an international event but it fell flat and lost money for the organisers
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