Toulouse trip is just the ticket for Red army

GETTING to Munster’s European Cup semi-final against Toulouse will be harder than getting a ticket, according to the IRFU’s Munster branch.

Around 12,000 tickets will be available to clubs and supporters from Thomond Park with a further 6,000 tickets shared out among travel agents and the Munster Supporters Club.

“We’d be fairly confident that anyone who wants to follow the best supported rugby club in the world will be able to get tickets,” said Munster Branch spokesman Pat Geraghty.

Travel agents were rushing yesterday to finalise their packages to France for Munster’s dedicated supporters. Early estimates for one-day trips are not cheap with Limerick Travel offering a return flight to Toulouse -with bus fare to the ground included but not match tickets - for 375. But this has not deterred the Munster supporters.

“The phones haven’t stopped ringing all morning,” said Teresa South, the manager of Creative Travel in Limerick. “After the Leicester match, one man came up to me and said ‘Put me down for two tickets, I’ll have the money on Tuesday’. Even in the airport after the match, I took about 100 names,” she said.

The playwright John Breen has enjoyed enormous success with Alone it Stands, his account of Munster’s famous 1978 victory over the All Blacks. But the opening of his new play about Charles Haughey means he will miss the clash with Toulouse.

“Unfortunately I won’t be able to make it. Everyone assumes that because I wrote the play I have a God-given right to a ticket. But for the final in Cardiff last year, I had to write an article for The Star for nothing to get a ticket,” he said.

Munster’s fourth consecutive appearance in the last four of the European Cup has earned the support of a nation, said Munster fan Noel Fox.

“It’s a phenomenon at this stage. People remember going to interprovincial matches with only 1,000 supporters there but now you can’t get a ticket for Thomond Park,” he said.

A capacity crowd is also expected for Leinster’s semi-final against Perpignan in Lansdowne Road on Sunday, April 27. The French side have sent back 10,000 tickets for the match, so the Leinster Branch of the IRFU will have 32,000 tickets available.