Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Ireland duo commit to Leinster with new deals

By PA
(Photo By Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

Sean Cronin and Luke McGrath have become the latest players to sign new deals with Guinness PRO14 champions Leinster, while Scott Fardy has announced he will retire at the end of the season.

ADVERTISEMENT

It has been a busy week of contract announcements for the Irish province, with Jack Conan, Scott Penny and Hugo Keenan among the other players to have committed to Leo Cullen’s side for the 2021-22 campaign.

Hooker Cronin, 34, arrived in Dublin from Connacht in 2011 and has won 72 Ireland caps, while scrum-half McGrath, 28, has made 19 international appearances, although neither has run out in green since the 2019 Rugby World Cup.

Video Spacer

Beale opens up on the Offload:

Video Spacer

Beale opens up on the Offload:

Former Australia international Fardy, meanwhile, has announced he will hang up his boots following the PRO14 Rainbow Cup.

Since arriving from Brumbies in 2017, 36-year-old Fardy – who earned 39 Wallabies caps – has helped Leinster to four PRO14 crowns and a Heineken Champions Cup title.

“I’ve loved every minute of this adventure, not only the last few years with Leinster but all of it,” he told the club’s website.

“Of course there is still a lot of rugby to be played this season. We are still on a high after the weekend (win against Exeter) and we’ve a massive few weeks ahead and that is our focus right now.”

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

N
NB 36 minutes ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Nice bit if revisioniusm but that's all it is JW.


For your further education, I found the following breakdown of one prominent club's finances in the Top 14 [Clermont].


For Clermont (budget of €29.5 million for 2021-2022) :

- 20% from ticket sales

- 17% from the LNR (includes TV Rights, compensation from producing french internationals and other minor stuff)

- 5% from public collectivities (so you're looking at funds from the city of Clermont, the department of Puy-De-Dôme and the region Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes)

- 4% from merchandising and events

- 3% from miscellaneous

- 51 % from sponsorships and partnerships. They've got 550 different partners. The main ones are CGI, Groupama, Limagrain/Jacquet, Omerin, Paprec, Renault and of course Michelin (not surprising since they're actually the founders of the club).


As you can see nothing comes from the FFR at all. The LNR is a separate entitiy to FFR and their aims frequently do not accord.


It is also why the European breakaway plotted by LNR and PR back in 2013 had nothing to do with the governing bodies of either England or France - and it most certainly did not have their blessing https://www.espn.co.uk/rugby/story/_/id/15331030/jean-pierre-lux-anglo-french-cup-detrimental-european-rugby


And from the horse's mouth [ex AB skipper Sean Fitapatrick] about the comp between Top 14 and Super Rugby:


"The Top 14 in France is probably the best rugby competition in the world at the moment, purely for the week-in, week-out.”


“I think the quality of players. They are bigger, they are faster, they are stronger. Which then carries on into the international game.”

Take it from someone who knows JW😅

293 Go to comments
LONG READ
LONG READ Why England's defence of the realm has crumbled without Felix Jones Why England's defence of the realm has crumbled without Felix Jones
Search