The European Rugby Cup Ltd were unable to decide yesterday on a venue for Munster's Heineken Cup semi-final against the French side Castres on April 27th. The decision is between a 40,000-seater stadium in Lyon, Munster's preferred option, or the 20,000-seater capacity Stade de la Mediterranée, in Beziers.
Yesterday the ERC released a statement saying that a decision will be made by the weekend.
The stadium in Lyon is seen by Munster to be more accessible for Irish fans, whereas Beziers involves both a flight and a coach or train journey to reach the south-western venue.
The ERC said that there is no problem with either of the teams involved but that they were unable to get confirmation of the availability of the ground in Lyon. Only when they receive that confirmation will they make a decision based on all the information.
"We understand that there are a lot of people from Munster anxious to find out the venue. But we want to make the best decision for the tournament and we need to be in full receipt of all the information," said ERC media officer Diarmuid Murphy.
The final of this year's European Cup, the seventh, will be played in Cardiff at the new Millennium Stadium, which has a capacity of 75,000.
Semi-Finals: Castres Olympique v Munster, Saturday, April 27th, venue to be announced, kick-off: 3.0 local time; TV: Live broadcasts on FR2, RTÉ and ITV Sport.
Leicester Tigers v Llanelli, Sunday, Aprilth, City Ground, Nottingham (capacity 28,500), kick-off: 3.0local time; TV: Live broadcast on BBC Sunday Grandstand, RTE.
Meanwhile, flanker Andrew Mower has benefited from the absence of injured Scottish captain Budge Pountney in being named in the side to face Italy in this weekend's Six Nations clash at the Stadio Flaminio in Rome.
Mower is one of two new faces in the side - centre Andrew Henderson also makes his first Six Nations start - for tomorrow's match.
Coach Ian McGeechan has moved playmaker Gregor Townsend to outhalf and dropped Duncan Hodge to the replacements bench after he missed four of five kicks at goal in the opening 29-3 defeat by England.
SCOTLAND: B Laney (Edinburgh); G Metcalfe (Glasgow), J McLaren (Glasgow), A Henderson (Glasgow), C Paterson (Edinburgh); G Townsend (Castres), B Redpath (Sale, capt); S Taylor (Edinburgh), A Mower (Newcastle), J White (Glasgow); S Grimes (Newcastle), S Murray (Saracens); M Stewart (Northampton), G Bulloch (Glasgow), T Smith (Northampton) Replacements: R Russell (Saracens), G Graham (Newcastle), M Leslie (Edinburgh), J Petrie (Glasgow), G Beveridge (Glasgow), D Hodge (Edinburgh), K Logan (Wasps).
ITALY: P Vaccari (Calvisano); R Pedrazzi (Viadana), Mirko Bergamasco (Padua), C Stoica (Castres), D Dallan (Treviso); D Dominguez (Stade Francais), A Troncon (Montferrand); F Pucciariello (Gloucester), A Moscardi (Treviso, capt), G De Carli (Calvisano), S Dellape (Viadana), C Checchinato (Treviso), M Bortolami (Padua), Mauro Bergamasco (Treviso), M Phillips (Viadana). Replacements: A Moreno (Worcester), A Lo Cicero (Toulouse), M Giacheri (Sale), A Persico (Viadana), J-M Queirolo (Dax), R Pez (Rotherham), L Martin (Northampton).
