More than one million people watched Ireland beat the All Blacks at the Aviva stadium last month — few from the confines of a corporate box

The IRFU has failed in a bid to save rugby’s “prawn sandwich brigade” from being shown on television.

The Times understands that the sport’s governing body had asked RTÉ to stop showing footage of guests in the Aviva’s corporate boxes during its coverage of games.

The request followed last month’s landmark victory over the All Blacks in the Lansdowne Road stadium.

During the match, viewers were repeatedly shown shots of Conor Murray, who was in a corporate box because he had not been able to play due to a neck injury. The Munster scrum half was also pictured celebrating at the end of the match. After the fixture there was said to be disgruntlement over the practice of showing people sitting in the Aviva’s corporate