Ulster rugby today received a massive boost with news that Bank of Ireland have signed a £1million plus sponsorship deal with the province, the first ever seven figure deal for a sports team in Northern Ireland.

Colm McKenna, head of marketing at Bank of Ireland spoke of the unprecedented three-year deal: "The deal we've signed today is the highlight so far of a hugely successful relationship between Bank of Ireland and Ulster Rugby.

"This further three-year sponsorship builds on an association between us that began in 1997/98 ahead of Ulster's historic European Cup win."

Ulster Rugby chief executive Michael Reid added: "Over the past nine years, the Bank of Ireland have become our major partner in every sense of the word and it's support of this sort, which represents much more than just financial sponsorship, which has allowed us to bring high calibre players to Ulster and to further develop our own young players to build the successful team we have today.