LONDON IRISH GIVEN A TAKEOVER LIFELINE

LONDON IRISH were yesterday handed a stay of execution as the RFU gave the US consortium hopeful of buying the Premiership club a week’s extension to complete the deal. Sportsmail revealed English rugby’s governing body had granted a further seven days for Irish to be officially sold on top of the initial May 30 deadline they had put on the capital club. Twickenham bosses were prepared to do so after receiving more financial information from Irish’s prospective American buyers and confirmation that current owner Mick Crossan will fund this month’s payroll for players — including Scotland scrum-half Ben White — and staff. It had been expected Irish would follow Worcester and Wasps in being suspended from the Premiership yesterday, but the Exiles remain just about alive. However, senior RFU figures are sceptical of the prospective buyers’ ability to complete a takeover, given they have failed to tick the right boxes over the last two months. The RFU’s willingness to move on the strict deadline they had previously imposed on Irish reflects their desperation not to see a third Premiership club fall out of existence this season. A letter to Irish’s players, which has been seen by Sportsmail, spelled out the uncertainty still facing the staff at the club. ‘The hope is the information surrounding the funds will provide Mick with the comfort that the funds are in place from the investors’ side and he can do what he needs in the meantime to sustain us,’ the letter read. ‘We are still working on verbal assurances and not cold hard facts but we are at the deadline now. We have no further room for manoeuvre.’