Munster-Ulster set for Easter Sunday showdown

HEINEKEN CUP organisers are likely to confirm this morning that the competition quarter-final between Munster and Ulster at Thomond Park will take place on Easter Sunday, April 8.

The date will be seen as the lesser of two evils by Munster but initial soundings indicate that Ulster are less than happy with the proposed date.

Munster officials made a formal request to the ERC not to play the last-eight tie on Good Friday night, April 6, as it would trigger another controversy in Limerick regarding pub opening regulations.

It is felt that Leinster’s Heineken Cup quarter-final against Cardiff will take place on Easter Saturday, though neither date is confirmed.

Meanwhile, plans for a major redevelopment of Belfast’s Ravenhill rugby stadium have been given the green light, the North’s Assembly ministers confirmed yesterday. The North’s Environment Minister Alex Attwood said he has backed planning permission for improvements at the south Belfast ground, including three new stands.

Sports Minister Carál Ní Chuilín said the announcement was central to plans to redevelop stadia linked to rugby, Gaelic games and football.

The executive has earmarked up to £14.7m (€17.6m) of funding for the Ravenhill scheme. The new Ravenhill stands will complement the existing stand, opened in October 2009, and will raise the stadium’s capacity to 18,000 spectators.

Ulster Rugby chief executive Shane Logan said the refurbished stadium would help the development of the sport “from the grassroots through to international levels”.

He said construction work at Ravenhill would take a phased approach and the ground would continue to host matches, albeit it with a slightly reduced capacity, throughout the build. The stands at the Memorial and Aquinas ends of the ground will be built in the first two phases. Once those are completed, work will begin on the demolition of the existing grandstand and the construction of its replacement. Ravenhill currently has a capacity of just more than 12,000. Logan said the increased capacity would mean it was capable of hosting a Pro12 final or Heineken Cup quarter-final match.