70,000 Munster fans expected in Cardiff for match

Tens of thousands of rugby fans are travelling to Cardif for tomorrow's Heineken European Cup Final.

Tens of thousands of rugby fans are travelling to Cardif for tomorrow's Heineken European Cup Final.

An estimated 70,000 Munster fans are due in the Welsh city for the clash against Biarritz.

With just 7,500 Biarritz fans estimated to be travelling to the match, Munster will take over most of the Millennium Stadium, while thousands more will be involved in a frantic last-minute hunt for tickets.

In the absence of tickets, many fans are expected to watch the match in various watering holes in Cardiff.

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Ferry companies Stena Sealink and Irish Ferries say they will be transporting 18,000 fans on routes from Dublin and Rosslare, while about 30 chartered flights are due to leave Cork and Shannon airports.

There was some alarm yesterday when two ferry sailings were cancelled due to rough seas, but Irish Ferries said it had enough capacity to transport fans on its larger all-weather ferries.

A spokesman for Irish Ferries told ireland.comthis morning that all its ferries were scheduled to run as normal although there was a slight delay in the departure of the Rosslare-Pembroke service.

He said the service was catching up today following some weather-related delays yesterday.

Stena cancelled this morning's Express Fast Ferry on the Rosslare to Fishguard route.  The Stena-Adventurer from Dublin to Holyhead departed on time this morning and another service is scheduled to run this evening.  Stena advises passengers to ring its ferry-check service at 01-2047799 for up-to-date information.

The Munster Rugby Supporters' Club, meanwhile, has started distributing 120,000 song cards to fans travelling to the game. The cards have the words to the anthems Stand Up and Fight and The Fields of Athenry.

The supporters' club is asking everyone attending the game to pass them to the few neutral supporters present who may not know the words to help form a deafening "Munster choir" in the Millennium Stadium.

Meanwhile, in arguably the home of Munster rugby, Limerick, will have the match broadcast on a giant 45 square-metre television screen at the junction of Shannon Street and O'Connell Street.