The untold story of ‘Project Lion’ and the big rugby payday that never was

On March 5, 1999, on the eve of Ireland’s Five Nations match against England, a small group of rugby’s power brokers made their excuses and slipped away from the traditional pre-game functions for a secret meeting at Castlemartin House, an 18th-century mansion in Co Kildare. At the time, the 300-hectare estate was owned by Sir Tony O’Reilly.