Profit allows Exiles to focus on Europe

Professional rugby's painful crawl towards economic viability gathered some welcome momentum yesterday when London Irish, as vibrant off the field as they would like to be on it, confirmed a trading profit for last season.

Professional rugby's painful crawl towards economic viability gathered some welcome momentum yesterday when London Irish, as vibrant off the field as they would like to be on it, confirmed a trading profit for last season. The precise details will not be known until the completion of a final audit, but the Reading-based Premiership club have definitely broken new ground after spending the last half-dozen years in the red by the best part of £1.5m.

Only Leicester and Northampton had previously managed this significant feat in the eight years of pay-for-play union, although Harlequins are expected to hoist the black flag of profitability some time soon. According to Conor O'Shea, the former Ireland full-back who now runs the Exiles' show as managing director, the ground has been prepared for a sharp improvement in financial performance over the next five seasons.

"This is a huge step forward in terms of making this business work," O'Shea said. "We are on a solid base, standing on our own two feet.

"We have outstanding facilities at the Madejski Stadium, where we will play our home matches until 2010 at least, and are now in a position to invest some serious money in the rugby side of the operation. I will regard anything less than European Cup qualification as a failure."

Some of the money O'Shea referred to has been spent on Mike Catt, the England midfielder who left Bath in May. Catt was omitted from the latest élite squad announced by the national coach, Clive Woodward, but remains convinced of his ability to add to the 65 caps he won between 1994 and last June. "I've been excluded from England squads for the past four years, so I'm used to it," he said. "Clive has told me I could be pulled back in if all goes well at my new club."