Work began on the redevelopment of the main pitch at Lansdowne Road yesterday, following a very busy year which left the playing surface in bad condition. The IRFU said it expects the cost of replacing the old pitch will approach €400,000.

Following the example of a number of Premiership soccer clubs in England, the IRFU decided to lay a mixture of polypropelene fibres and natural grass seeds on a bed of sand and clay. Although Lansdowne Road isn't particularly prone to flooding, there are also plans to lay a number of drainage channels across the width of the pitch to improve drainage.

Eddie Connaughton, the IRFU's consultant agronomist said: "We're going to have a 100 per cent natural surface here when we finish. But the benefit of the polypropelene fibres is that they will be below the surface where the roots can entangle into them and as a result of that then make the ground more stable for hosting major games."

This isn't the first time the IRFU has used this pitch reconstruction method.

It said it was satisfied with the quality of the second pitch at Thomond Park, where the same method was used recently so much so that, according to Phillip Browne, the Chief Executive of the IRFU, the pitch is probably better than the main pitch.

There were a combined total of 36 rugby and soccer matches played at Lansdowne between June last year and May of this year. Lansdowne Road's already busy fixture schedule was further exacerbated last year by the disruption of the Six Nations Championship.

The pitch began to deteriorate causing concern within the IRFU.

"As a rugby surface," Browne said, "it was a poor surface this season because the sod was being kicked out and it was almost in a dangerous condition for rugby at certain times this year".

The IRFU expects the pitch to be to be ready in time for the start of Ireland's qualification campaign for the Rugby World Cup beginning in September.