The Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) have blamed Saturday's crowd problems at Lansdowne Road on fans arriving far too late for the game. With 19 minutes of the match played, hundreds of fans were ushered onto the pitch by IRFU stewards and gardai. They settled against the hoarding along the East Stand touchline but were moved in order to keep the advertising slots clear for the television.

"People were still turning up 25 minutes after kick-off," said IRFU secretary Phillip Browne. "Rather than force them into the terraces, we chose to put them along the touch line. It would have been disruptive to try and put them into the terrace and so we chose the other option.

"We went to great lengths to get people to arrive earlier to the ground with bars, music and entertainment set up, but . . . people still insist on arriving at the last possible minute or even after kick off."