The Royal Bank of Scotland, which operates in Ireland under the title of Ulster Bank, has extended its long term sponsorship of the Six Nations Rugby Championships for a further four years to 2017.
The new deal also includes the Ulster Bank Rugby Force initiative which pushes money directly to the grassroots of the sport through development funding for clubs in a competitive grant structure.
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[ismember]This will bring the relationship to 14 years, having started in 2003 and has run over a period in which the Irish Rugby team has performed with great credit.
From the 50 games that each of the Six Nations have played under the sponsorship banner of the bank, Ireland’s 34 wins and 69 points is bettered only by France’s 73 points from 36 wins and ahead of England’s 63 points from 31 wins.
The deal is believed to be worth around €12 million for each of the four years, thus providing a significant portion of the IRFU’s revenue.  The figure is an increase of as much as 100% on the four year deal that was due to expire this season and is in line with the significant growth of rights income enjoyed by major sports tournaments that benefit from international television coverage.
Six Nations Rugby chief executive John Feehan said: “We are delighted to extend our successful partnership with RBS, said Dublin based John Feehan, Chief Executive of Six Nations Rugby.  “In the 11 years that the bank has backed the Championship we have worked together to exponentially grow the tournament both at a global level in terms of fans enjoying the games, but also at a community level, through the RBS RugbyForce programme.”
Gregory Thorpe, the head of brand and marketing at RBS, added: “Our RBS 6 Nations sponsorship delivers significant value to our business and is the cornerstone of everything we do in rugby. The Championship is a source of pride and passion for many of our customers, from the living room to the board room. Our involvement helps us engage more effectively with those customers and to connect with the communities in which we operate.”
Ireland has two home fixtures this season against England on Sunday, February 10th and against France on Saturday, March 10th.  The three away games are in Wales on Saturday, February 2nd, Scotland on Sunday, February 24th and Italy on Saturday, March 16th.[/ismember]
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