RUGBY/Connacht team's future: Despite the best efforts of key figures within the IRFU to present Connacht's demise as a fait accompli, the province's future will hang in the balance for another few weeks after a stormy but inconclusive four-and-a-half hour IRFU committee meeting in Dublin's Berkeley Court Hotel last night.

A statement from the union confirmed "no decision had been taken" regarding Connacht's future and that another specially convened committee meeting will take place in about a fortnight's time, at which a vote will most probably be taken on the province's existence as a professional entity.

However, team Connacht's future does look decidedly bleak for it is believed the vast majority of the 22-man committee support proposals from a four-man sub-committee of the IRFU, comprising the union's chief executive Philip Browne, director of rugby Eddie Wigglesworth, treasurer John Lyons and accountant Conor O'Brien, to disband Connacht as a professional entity while preserving the branch's administrative staff and amateur entity.

Only the three Connacht delegates - IRFU president Don Crowley, Bobby Glynn and Jeff Bridges, as well as the Exiles' Phelim McLoughlin - seem set to oppose Connacht's proposed extinction. The committee's impending decision should then be referred to a full IRFU council meeting - most likely early next month - as requested by Connacht branch officials.

The council, which encompasses the committee, the past IRFU presidents (about a dozen or so), and 10 delegates from each Branch, is the ultimate decision-making arm of the union.

The sub-committee's draconian proposal is partly based on the premise that the union will lose almost €4 million this season and €7 million next season, though how these figures are reached has not been itemised.

Browne has previously criticised leaks, which he believed emanated from Connacht, that followed a meeting between IRFU powerbrokers and Connacht branch officials. Yet, no less than the first occasion this was mooted, this latest leak forecasting Connacht's impending demise undoubtedly came from Lansdowne Road.

As with that leak, which came just before Connacht's Celtic League semi-final with Munster, the timing of this one just days before Connacht entertain Pontypridd in the home leg of their European Challenge Cup quarter-final (arguably the biggest competitive game in the province's history) on Saturday is arousing deep suspicions in the west.

The Ericcson Park capacity in Athlone of 4,000 will scarcely cope with the demand for the match, and were Connacht to win the cup competition, rules decree they would play in the Heineken European Cup next year to the exclusion of another Irish province.

As one Connacht insider put it: "The timing is incredible, less than 48 hours before the greatest home game in Connacht's history comes this statement that the future of Connacht is being discussed. The conspiracy theorist would surely look at this as an organisation that wanted one of their own provinces to lose vital games."

Having sought to soothe fears within the Connacht camp about their future employment on Tuesday, the latest "IRFU leak" has placed the branch's chief executive Gerry Kelly in a decidedly awkward position. "It's extremely worrying," he admitted. "As the person who interlinks between the players and management, and the union, it makes life very difficult."

A statement issued on behalf of the players described the timing as "appalling, coming as it does 48 hours before we play the biggest match in Connacht's history".

It added: "For the past number of years we have operated on less resources than the other three provinces, yet the progress made in that time has always been on an upward curve, reaching the quarter-finals of the Celtic League in the two years since the competition started. In tandem with the success of the flagship team, there have been tremendous developments at youth and schools level in the province. Is this now to be lost because of the decisions that are being considered by the IRFU. Where will the young players in the province go to in the future?

"Just before Christmas nine Connacht players featured on the Irish development squad which played Argentina, clearly indicating just how bright the future is for Connacht players.

"More young players are taking up the game in Connacht, more people are following rugby than ever before and massive money has been spent on the redevelopment of the Sportsground. The future has never been as bright for rugby in Connacht before. It just does not make sense to cut it off at this stage," concluded the Connacht players' statement.

The recently-formed Irish Players' Association may also have grave reservations about the sacking of 20 or more of its members, as might others.

Fianna Fáil TD, Frank Fahey, yesterday revealed on RTÉ radio and television that in the event of Connacht being jettisoned, he would actively lobby Government ministers not to grant any financial aid to the IRFU towards game or ground development.

Faced with even more penurious finances, the Welsh Committee members recently sanctioned proposals aimed at reducing their overheads by disbanding the Welsh A team. They also agreed to curb their own Six Nations' trips to away games from three to one per committee member, though the IRFU have not done likewise.