The capacity at Lansdowne Road for Ireland's Tests this month against South Africa, Australia and the Pacific Islands has been reduced from 49,000 to 43,000 because of the necessity to leave in bucket seats in the South Terrace for the Republic of Ireland soccer team's Euro 2008 qualifier against San Marino.

The San Marino game takes place on the Wednesday (November 15th) between the rugby matches against South Africa and Australia. It takes 10 days to remove the seats so the time frame makes that impossible.

The North Terrace will also have seats for the soccer match, but much fewer than on the South Terrace, and it will be possible to remove them for the Australia and Pacific Islands Tests.

The Ireland and Wasps openside flanker Johnny O'Connor will make his first Guinness Premiership start of the season in tonight's game against Sale at Edgeley Park. It will be his first appearance for Wasps senior team since the Powergen Cup final last April in which he sustained a spinal concussion.

Meanwhile, Irish rugby is to receive a €3.5-million fillip from the Government. The Minister for Sport, John O'Donoghue, yesterday announced details of the investment by the Irish Sports Council (ISC) in the IRFU.

The capital will fund programmes aimed at increasing participation in rugby at all levels.

Yesterday's announcement at Lansdowne Road brings to €18.5 million the total allocated to the IRFU by the Sports Council since 2001.

The funding arises from the special budget recommendation for the encouragement of greater underage participation in Ireland's three major field sports.

As with the GAA and the FAI initiatives, the entire IRFU programme is in line with the Sports Council's objectives of increasing sports opportunities for all, but particularly for schoolchildren and the disadvantaged.

The ISC and the IRFU agreed a detailed programme for the year.

One of the programmes that will benefit from the investment will be the IRFU Long Term Player Development model (LTPD), which for the first time will provide an integrated framework for the development of rugby players at all levels.

The LTPD outlines six stages of development under the title "Six to Six Nations" and is designed to ensure training and competition are appropriate to the player's physical development.

Player capacities are described under five headings: technical, tactical, physical, mental and lifestyle. and the aim of the LTPD is primarily to maximise the potential of players of varying talents, and not necessarily to build a production line of world-class players

Ossie Kilkenny, ISC chairman, said, "The council has set high targets for increasing sports participation in Ireland. We rely on organisations such as the IRFU to help meet those targets. Their participation programmes are reaping rewards as they provide excellent opportunities for boys and girls throughout the country.

"We also recognise that these programmes must be underpinned by a well organised and professional organisation, which the IRFU most certainly is."

O'Donoghue said, "This investment by the Government enables the IRFU to develop a series of innovative programmes to increase participation in rugby.

"These programmes, along with significant capital investments, are . . . securing rugby's long-term future in Ireland."

He praised the work of the union manifest in the two recent Triple Crown triumphs, Munster's Heineken European Cup success and Ulster's Celtic League win.

Council funding is used to fund development staff in each of the four provinces, including four provincial development managers, 13 regional development officers and 87 youth development officers.

The Tallaght Project, which has seen over 3,000 children introduced to the game, has now expanded into Swords in north Co Dublin. Preparatory work is being done in Ballymun, which has been selected as the third site for the project.

The Clubs of Ireland Scheme is an achievement-based reward mechanism. The scheme encompasses mini-rugby, tag rugby, women's rugby and referee and coach development. Over 1,200 schools participated in the scheme.

500 schools and 50,000 children took part in Coca-Cola tag rugby, a non-contact version of rugby. Some 150 new schools received "tag packs" and teachers received referee coaching. 110 areas in Community Games are now playing tag rugby.

The Buntús tag programme expanded from Limerick City into Co Donegal and will start shortly in Co Sligo and Co Cork.

87 schools received payments under the Schools of Ireland Programme. Over 70,000 worth of playing gear and equipment was supplied to clubs and schools.

€90,000 was paid as incentive and reward to schools and clubs from which players had graduated to the professional game in the season 2004-2005.