RUGBY/ European Cup quarter-finals: Somehow you sensed it was always going to pan out this way, and Munster's eagerly awaited Heineken European Cup semi-final in Lansdowne Road next Sunday week against the English champions, Wasps, looks like being a 48,000 sell-out - with a little help from Leinster.
Somewhat curiously, the Leinster Branch have been granted roughly half (10,500) of Munster's allocation (20,000) but aside from Leinster recognising a saleable opportunity when they see one, this is also simply a matter of expediency, according to Diarmaid Murphy, the ERC's PR manager.
"It makes common sense given the very short space of time we have to sell these tickets," explained Murphy. "Because of the postal strike we were not willing to put them on the internet. Munster asked for 20,000 and if they had asked for 25,000 or 30,000, they'd have received 25,000 or 30,000.
"We need a swift distribution network. Leinster looked for 10,500 and there's no reason why they shouldn't get 10,500. What we want is a full house and the remaining tickets would be a 'float' which the IRFU and the ERC can sell."
In addition to making tickets available through their clubs, Munster will put tickets on sale to the general public at their Limerick and Cork branches from next Thursday at 9.30 am. The Leinster Branch tickets will go on sale next Friday at 9.30 am from the Spar shops in Donnybrook and Bath Avenue, Active Sports in Blackrock Shopping Centre and the Elverys stores in Suffolk Street and Dawson Street. Tickets will also be available to the public from Ticketmaster outlets in Dublin and Limerick as well as the IRFU from Thursday. Tickets range in price from €5 to 50.
Wasps, who overwhelmed Gloucester 34-3 in yesterday's quarter-final, have provisionally asked for only 2,000 tickets, whereas the better-supported Gloucester would have been allocated 5,000, but Warren Gatland, who will be making his first return to Lansdowne Road since being removed as Ireland coach, is not in the least bit concerned about the furnace Wasps will be walking into.
"We recognise the scale of the challenge in playing Munster in Ireland. They have a fantastic Heineken Cup pedigree, but we have met big challenges before this season, playing in Perpignan and in Pontypridd, and we've come through them. A number of our players know what it's like to win big games in Lansdowne Road because they've done it with England and hopefully that will give them some sort of advantage."
The most disappointing aspect to the ERC's decision to have the Toulouse-Biarritz semi-final on Saturday, April 24th (3 pm Irish time), and the Munster-Wasps semi-final 24 hours later is the latter game will overshadow Connacht's Parker Pen European Challenge Cup semi-final second leg against Harlequins at the Sportsground (kick-off 1 pm).
It shouldn't affect the anticipated 6,000 capacity attendance (over 3,500 tickets have already been sold) but it will greatly deflect attention from their big day, and apparently all due to the insistence and stubbornness of French television.
