A taxi driver who found a rugby team's gameplan in his cab believes he ruined their chances of success by passing it on to their rivals.

The Limerick cabbie spotted Gloucester Rugby Club's vital plan hours before their European Cup game against Munster.

And he says he managed to get it to the home side's management just in time for them to scupper Gloucester's Heineken Cup hopes.

Now he hopes the team will repay the favour by paying for him to attend another big match for free.

Important find

The driver, who did not want to be named, said: "I looked on the ground and I saw this piece of paper and being a taxi driver I thought it was money.

"So I went to check it out and when it wasn't I was just about to throw it out of the window when I looked at it and nearly crashed the car."

Later on in the same shift he picked up Shannon rugby club player Brian Buckley, who looked at the plan and told him how important his find was.

"I gave him the plan and he looked at it and he nearly fainted in the car. He said I had to get it to the Munster team," the driver explained.

When he could not get hold of anybody from the team he went to the host of a local radio sports show and handed him a photocopy of the plan to pass on.

Quarter finals

The next morning he watched as Munster beat the English league leaders by 27 points to go through to the quarter-finals of the Heineken Cup.

"I got up and watched the match in my dressing gown - I was like a lunatic," he said.

He said he hoped Munster would repay him by giving him free tickets and accommodation for the Celtic League final in Cardiff.

And he said he planned to use the original document to create framed plaques to sell for a Limerick charity.

The driver said he had not made any attempt to contact the original owner of the plan.

"If it was money he'd have got it back, but this was too important," he said.