Organisers of the Celtic League are working to a time frame of six weeks, at the end of which they hope to be in a position to announce details of the inaugural competition. Currently they are negotiating with BBC Grandstand to have live coverage of the semi-finals and final.
Were that to happen, it would enhance the competition's worth to a potential sponsor and so enable the Celtic League organisers to fulfill the target of a pool of about £2 million, or £6 million over three years.
An ERC Ltd board meeting this week is expected to ratify the European Cup and European Conference fixture schedules for next season, which are likely to see two rounds at the end of September, two at the end of October and two in December, with the quarter-finals in January. This in turn would most likely mean that the Celtic League would be run before and during the European Cup, culminating in the semi-finals and final in late December, with the decider to be held in the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.
The sooner the Celtic League is ratified, the sooner the IRFU can harden contractual arrangements at provincial level. Due to the additional workload brought on by the Celtic League, it is also expected that provincial contracts will be increased next season.
The IRFU are also keen to put the theory into practice with regard to moving players surplus to requirements at other provinces into Connacht especially, bearing in mind the success of moves such as Brian O'Meara's switch from Munster to Leinster this season.
Meanwhile, the Irish management have confirmed that their ruling regarding the unavailability of Test players for club matches the week after playing for at least 40 minutes in a Six Nations Championship game only applies to home-based players. Hence, allaying the fears of Harlequins for one, Irish captain Keith Wood will be able to play in the English Cup final for his club against Newcastle at Twickenham on February 24th, the week after Ireland host France and the week before Ireland are away to Wales.
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