Teddy McCarthy and Tom Ryan on Sunday’s big clash

Schmidt a vital cog in IRFU’s financial gains

IRISH RUGBY chief Philip Browne last night hailed the godsend impact Joe Schmidt has had on the IRFU’s healthy balance sheet, after the union reported an €8.7million surplus on record income of €74.1m for 2014/15.

There had been dire warnings about unsold 10-year Aviva Stadium tickets two years ago after Ireland plummeted to fifth in the Six Nations, a downturn that led to Declan Kidney’s departure.

The decline also forced the IRFU into arranging a €26m loan reserve facility to maintain its level of activity in the sport.

However, this projected level of borrowing between now and 2020 has been reduced to €15m because of the generous prize money earned from Ireland’s back-to-back Six Nations title triumphs under Schmidt and the €9m windfall earned from the complete sale of the latest tranche of 10-year tickets up for renewal this year.

‘Joe would be first to say he is a cog in the business unit that is the national team,’ said union CEO Browne about the coach who has won 15 of his 19 matches in charge. ‘He’s an extremely important

cog in the whole thing but equally the players have to deliver and he has been able to get the best out of those players and they have delivered. ‘Everything depends on everything else in this sport. We can’t live on the results from last season. We have to work on performance all the time, so we can’t neglect the academy system, the high performance pathway or the domestic game either. ‘Everything contributes to the success, but Joe has a tremendous ability to bring focus and clarity to the national team and what he wants the players to do — that is reflected in the national team’s results.’ Further buoyed by securing a broadcast deal with Sky Sports for their home autumn internationals, the cumulative effect of the increased income in the Schmidt era will see the IRFU invest an extra €3.2m in the professional provincial game next season, with a further €800,000 going towards the domestic game. Browne refused to reveal the level of performancerelated bonuses that will be paid to Schmidt’s squad of 31 for a successful World Cup, but he dismissed recent reports that the IRFU has negotiated a €50m, 10-year deal with Vodafone to take over from current sponsors Three in summer 2016. ‘We have another sponsor in place lined up to take over. I’m not at liberty to say who but the figures that were bandied about in the media of €50m are so totally off the wall.’