Rugby:Leinster's Heineken Cup fixture away to Saracens will take place at Wembley Stadium and will be the first tournament match to be staged at the home of English soccer.
The 2009 champions take on Saracens in their Pool 2, Round 2 clash on Saturday, October 16th (kick-off 5.45pm)
Wembley was completely redeveloped on the original site at a cost of €960million and reopened in 2007. The 90,000-capacity makes it the second biggest stadium in Europe behind Barcelona’s Nou Camp.
Saracens normally play their home games at Vicarage Road in Watford but have switched to Wembley which will be more lucrative with the increased capacity.
Brendan Venter’s side switched to Wembley four times last season and brought in crowds of over 40,000 each time.
Leinster Rugby will learn in the next couple of weeks what their allocation will be for the Heineken Cup fixture.
Elsewhere John Muldoon has been retained as Connacht captain for the new season. Coach Eric Elwood confirmed the news today with Muldoon leading the province to the Amlin Challenge Cup semi-final last season when they also defeated Leinster in the Magners League.
Muldoon also put in a man-of-the-match performance for the Ireland against the Barbarians but sustained an untimely injury when he broke his arm playing against the All Blacks on the summer tour.
“I was very disappointed coming off the field against New Zealand as I knew I had done serious damage and would be out for a bit but I was delighted when Eric showed his faith in me by appointing me as the captain again,” said the 28-year-old Portumna man is back training and hoping for s full return in early October.
“It is a great honour to lead your province and we are all looking forward the start of the season, hopefully we can take the momentum from the end of last season and bring that forward into this year.”
Elwood has retained the majority of his squad from last year and with Cillian Willis replacing the retired Kieran Campbell, Ezra Taylor coming in for the departed George Naoupu and young stars Darragh Fanning and Shane Monahan joining the ranks.
“I am very happy with the continuity of the squad from last year and we will try and build on that,” said Elwood. “Ezra is coming from the Queensland Reds and has played at a high level and we will give him every opportunity to prove himself here.
“We’ve also brought in young, hungry players such as Darragh and Shane and this is their opportunity to show and develop their skills in the Magners League and in Europe.
In Ulster new Springbok signings, Johann Muller and Pedrie Wannenburg, are set to feature in Friday’s pre-season friendly against Bath at Ravenhill (7.30pm).
The South African duo were named in Brian McLaughlin’s 25-man squad with the team to be finalised later in the week.
Ulster squad (v Bath)
Forwards: TJ Anderson; Tim Barker; Nigel Brady; Ryan Caldwell; Robbie Diack; Willie Faloon; Declan Fitzpatrick; Andi Kyriacou; Adam Macklin; Johann Muller; Paddy McAllister; Neil McComb; Pedrie Wannenburg; Bryan Young;
Backs: Darren Cave; Ian Humphreys; Paul Marshall; Luke Marshall; Mark McCrea; Niall O'Connor; Ian Porter; Tommy Seymour; Jamie Smith; Nevin Spence; Ian Whitten