All-Irish clash set to attract record figures

European Cup Semi-finals: As expected, the mouth-watering Leinster-Munster Heineken European Cup semi-final showdown in three weeks' time has been scheduled for Sunday, April 23rd, but if any rugby fixture can concoct a fervour not normally associated with games at Lansdowne Road on the Sabbath, it is surely this first all-Irish clash in the Heineken Cup.

The game will have a 3.0pm kick-off and there may be an increase in absenteeism at work the following morning; the clout of French television predictably ensuring that the Biarritz-Bath semi-final at the Estadio Anoeta in San Sebastian will kick off at 4.0 local time, 3.0 Irish the day before.

The Munster-Leinster clash will be televised live by RTÉ, Sky Sports and Sport+, while the Biarritz-Bath tie will be shown on France Television and Sky Sports, with the Lansdowne Road encounter sure to attract a record Irish audience for the European Cup.

New landmarks have already been set this season. The audience for RTÉ's coverage of the recent England-Ireland Six Nations finale was a record 643,000, peaking at 821,000, with some estimates placing the overall figure at 1.5 million. The Munster-Sale pool match drew an average audience of 382,000, easily eclipsing the previous best for the European Cup on RTÉ of 297,000 set in 2002 for the final between Munster and Leicester.

But even this was surpassed by 431,000, peaking at a remarkable 584,000, who tuned in to RTÉ's coverage of Saturday's Munster-Perpignan match, while the Toulouse-Leinster game drew 255,000, peaking at 352,000.

That Munster had the higher share of the audience would, at least in part, be due to the later, more favourable TV kick-off time of 5.30.

Television coverage is sure to be poor compensation for many thousands of disappointed rugby supporters come kick-off on April 23rd however. A clearer picture of how those tickets will be distributed emerged yesterday. Each province have received their initial allocation of 20,000, less 1,164 schools' tickets, with about 9,000 of those stand tickets and 11,000 terraced.

The Leinster chief executive Mick Dawson confirmed that the 2,500 or so Leinster Supporters' Club/season ticket holders will be entitled to buy two each, after which around 8,000 will be made available to the provincial clubs, roughly half their allocation for an international in Lansdowne Road.

The Leinster Branch will host one corporate event for about 450 in the RDS, while those who applied for some of the province's ticket deals in the pool stages will go into a raffle for some tickets, with the rest being accounted for by sponsors, schools, various branch sections, the management and squad.

"It is going to be a great occasion but in terms of distributing the tickets and meeting demand it is not going to be a happy event," ventured Dawson.

"I'd say we could sell three times our allocation and I'm sure Garret is exactly the same," he added, in reference to his Munster counterpart Garrett Fitzgerald. He concurred, commenting: "We sold over 40,000 tickets for the Perpignan match, and could have sold another 20,000."

Fitzgerald said 50 per cent of their allocation will go to their member clubs, of which about 6,121 will be shared equally among the senior clubs, and the remaining 3,300 or so to the 52 junior clubs. This works out at about 380 tickets per senior club.

Some of them supplemented their allocation by paying Perpignan a premium rate for chunks of the French club's 5,500 share - scarcely 1,000 of which appeared to be used by actual Perpignan fans. One Munster club even held three corporate events in Dublin last Saturday, while even one Leinster club got in on the act, but the option of procuring tickets from the opposition won't exist this time.

The balance of Munster's allocation, about 9,418, will be distributed among their supporters' club, sponsors, branch committees, the schools and the squad and management.

Meanwhile, the presence of an Irish team in the final for the first time in four years has also ensured that tickets for the final in Cardiff on May 20th are also selling like hot cakes.

"We had sold 27,000 tickets for the final to the general public before the quarter-final weekend and we managed to sell a further 11,500 on Sunday alone after the four semi-finalists were known," said Millennium Stadium chief executive Paul Sergeant yesterday.

Tickets for the final are available from Ticketmaster on 08705 582 582 or by logging on to www.ticketmaster.co.uk .

There will be a distinctly Irish flavour to the concluding day of European semi-final weekend, as prior to the Leinster-Munster match the Newcastle Falcons will host London Irish at Kingston Park at 12.35pm in the European Challenge Cup.

Gloucester's clash with Worcester Warriors will kick off at 12.35pm at Kingsholm on Saturday, April 22nd.

(All kick-offs Irish time)

Biarritz Olympique v Bath

Saturday, April 22nd, 3.0

Estadio Anoeta, San Sebastian

On TV: Sky Sports/FR2

Leinster v Munster

Sunday, April 23rd, 3.0

Lansdowne Road

On TV: RTE/Sky Sports/Sport+

Final: Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, Saturday, May 20th

European Challenge Cup

Semi-finals

Gloucester v Worcester Warriors

Sat, April 22nd, 12.35, Kingsholm

Newcastle Falcons v London Irish

Sun, April 23rd 12.35, Kingston Park