LEINSTER AND Munster supporters can expect an allocation of between 8,000 and 10,000 tickets for their respective Heineken Cup semi-finals on the May Bank Holiday weekend. ERC will confirm the exact figures later this week for the four participating clubs.
Leinster travel to the 40,500- capacity Le Stadium in Toulouse to take on the three-time winners on Saturday, May 1st (3.45pm, Irish time). The last occasion these sides met in the knockout stages, a quarter-final in 2006, the province’s 4,500 supporters witnessed a famous 41-35 victory.
The attendance that day of 37,815 remains a Toulouse record for a home game in the European Cup: 35,089 watched their 42-16 victory over Stade Français in Sunday’s quarter-final.
A spokesperson for the Leinster Branch confirmed they hadn’t received official notification of their allocation but they hoped to have enough tickets to satisfy the demand.
Munster return to the Estadio Anoeta (capacity, 32,076) – they previously played Biarritz Olympique there in a 2005 quarter-final – on Sunday, May 2nd (3.15pm, Irish time) to face the French side whom they beat in the 2006 Heineken Cup final. Whatever allocation comes their way, there are unlikely to be many tickets returned, on the evidence of previous forays into Europe.
Theoretically each of the four semi-finalists is entitled to a similar allocation of tickets but from a practical perspective, it rarely pans out that way. The likelihood is there will be a sizeable discrepancy in terms of support on the day in favour of the two “home clubs”.
Meanwhile, Connacht’s chief executive Gerry Kelly has confirmed the capacity of the Sportsground will be increased for their Amlin Challenge Cup semi-final against Toulon on Friday, April 30th (7.45pm).
“We’ll put in as much as we can into the ground and are hoping to be able to accommodate between 7,000 and 8,000 supporters on the night,” he said. “It’ll be done primarily by the installation of additional terracing rather than stands.
“We’re delighted to be able to play at home in a game of this prominence. Toulon is entitled to a quarter of the capacity in terms of tickets but the initial indication they have given us is they expect to have in the region of 1,000 supporters travelling.”
Connacht have played Toulon on three previous occasions in the Challenge Cup, their sole win coming in the only meeting to take place at the Galway venue, during the 1999-2000 season.
