Cash-rich Top 14 outfit Montpellier have tabled an astonishing €840,000 a year offer to CJ Stander in a bid to turn his head and dissuade him from signing a new contract with Munster and the IRFU, writes Rugby Correspondent Simon Lewis.

Stander, out of contract at the end of the season, is the latest international star to attract the attention of France’s richest club and its billionaire owner, the Syria-born French businessman Mohed Altrad.

The South African-born back-rower, who made his Irish debut in the 2016 Six Nations, qualifying through residency three years on from his move to Munster, is currently in negotiations through his representatives with the IRFU on a contract extension.

Well-placed sources indicate the 27-year-old will be offered a basic salary in the region of €400,000 per year, plus incentives. It has also been indicated to Irish Examiner sport that he wants to remain in Ireland to further his international career, but the eye-watering offer from Montpellier, €70,000 per month, has been sure to complicate matters.

However, the IRFU remain confident they will be in a position to announce a new deal this week for a player capped 18 times by Joe Schmidt, and who toured New Zealand as a British & Irish Lion during the summer, appearing in the final Test against the All Blacks.

The Munster star leads this season’s Champions Cup in carries with 71 after four rounds and if the IRFU persuades Stander to stay put, it will complete a very satisfactory week’s business for the Union and its Performance Director David Nucifora, with Munster captain Peter O’Mahony and Leinster prop Tadhg Furlong signing new three-year IRFU contracts before the weekend.