The ERC yesterday confirmed that they "were pleased to announce that Stade de la Mediterranée, Beziers, will host the Heineken Cup semi-final between Castres Olympique and Munster on Saturday, 27th April, 2002 (kick-off 3.0 p.m. local time)."
They may be pleased - and Castres most certainly will be - but a decidedly disgruntled Munster most certainly won't be.
In a prepared statement Jean-Pierre Lux, the French chairman of ERC, said: "There have been delays in announcing a venue for this game but ERC needed to allow time to be given in order to assess all options."
Yet the reality is, as they concede, that the Mayor of Lyon didn't have time in his hectic schedule due to visits from Bill Clinton and Mikhail Gorbachev before supposedly notifying ERC yesterday that the municipally owned 41,000-capacity Stade Gerland in Lyon would not be available because there is a football match there a week later.
ERC point out that there is an international airport in Montpellier, 'just 45 minutes from the stadium" by road and "that Beziers has proved it can hold major events such as the most recent Rugby World Cup (France v Canada and Fiji v Namibia)".
Nevertheless additional embankments will be required to bring the existing ground capacity up from 17,500 to the requisite 20,000. In fact, the capacity for the semi-final will be 400 above that, with seating for 17,600.
Mindful of last year's flawed choice of Lille, the ERC's media manager Diarmaid Murphy confirmed that unlike a year ago there will be such basic commodities as food and drink at the ground.
Commenting on the decision to stage the game at a venue which is the furthest possible point from Irish shores, Munster team manager Jerry Holland said: "I am surprised at the choice of venue but paerticularly disappointed for Munster supporters.
"We had asked ERC to consider the logistics from a supporters point of view in the hope that they would opt for a venue that would be easily accessible. That plea has been ignored and I am extremely disappointed for our supporters."
