Kieran McSweeney: Irish rugby could be set for a bumper few years,

But the club game is suffering and half-forgotten

IRFU’s director of commercial and marketing, Padraig Power,

In a well-known television ad from a number of years back, Guinness declared: “This is rugby country.” It caused much debate at the time. There was a resounding yes to the notion from rugby supporters. But GAA and football fans were less than unequivocal in their support, to say the least.

We may not live in rugby country (it ranked joint second as our most popular sport alongside Gaelic games but behind football ...