Munster granted 12,000 tickets for Heineken Cup semi-final

Munster rugby have been given an initial allocation of 12,000 tickets for the Heineken Cup semi-final against reigning champions Toulon on Sunday April 27.

Toulon will defend their title at the Stade Velodrome in Marseilles just a 30-minute train ride away from their home, while Munster supporters must navigate their route using planes, trains and automobiles.

However, Munster CEO Garret Fitzgerald suggested there would be a huge uptake of tickets by Munster and Irish supporters from home, Britain and around Europe.

“The stadium has a capacity of 41,000, it’s an ERC event, and their intention is to fill the stadium,” he said. “We’ve taken an initial allocation of 12,000 tickets, they will be sold firstly between the clubs and schools in the province, the Munster Rugby Supporters Club and 10-year ticket holders. Then there will be an option for the public after that through Ticketmaster, I would imagine.”

However, Fitzgerald said due to the interest in tickets it was possible for Munster supporters to exceed the 12,000 allocation and the club would be entitled to an increase if necessary.

“We’re entitled to half of the available tickets to both clubs in any event. It’s very hard to put a figure on the demand but historically, in terms of our away matches, we get a lot of people from the Irish community in both the UK and Europe following us, sometimes up to as much as a 40% demand.

“I suppose if you were to logically predict the number of Munster supporters being there on the day it would probably be between 8,000 and 10,000, but you never know with Munster supporters, do you?”

Fitzgerald expects a quick answer to that question. The 12,000 tickets will be available immediately and the next few days could tell a lot, especially now that Munster are the last Irish team left standing.

Meanwhile Rob Penney is ready to ring the changes for Munster’s clash with Glasgow in Saturday’s RaboDirect Pro12 clash at Thomond Park. Although picking up points is paramount in the Pro12 run-in, Penney is still conscious of easing the workload for some of his top players.

“The review (of the Toulouse game) won’t be as strenuous and obviously on the back of a win that tends to make the coaches a little less aggressive (in selecting a team).”

Penney was delighted with some of the performances by Munster’s young players on Saturday against Toulouse.

“I thought Conor Murray was terrific. He has a lot of international experience but his maturity and the way he dictates the run of the game is just becoming world class. And then there was JJ [Hanrahan] off the bench and Keats [Ian Keatley] moving to 12. Our drivers did a terrific job. You’ve got Dave Kilcoyne and John Ryan doing a fantastic job and Duncan Casey coming on and having a blinder for a guy in his first year of this level.”