Aviva Stadium at 10: The long road to the first game and what the next decade might hold

It's 10 years today since a Leinster/Ulster side trounced a Munster/Connacht selection in the first game played at the Aviva Stadium. Brendan O'Brien looks back at the long road it took to get there, and at what the next decade might hold for the venue

One of the Aviva Stadium’s iconic moments was undoubtedly Jacob Stockdale’s spectacular try in Ireland’s historic win over the All Blacks in November 2018. Picture: Inpho/Tommy Dickson

If a camel is a horse designed by committee then 'The Aviva' is a creation that owes its unique appearance and very existence to a panoply of politicians, administrators, architects and engineers, to an emotional bond with its storied address, to the baggage of too many years lost to endless discourse and dithering and, last but by no means least, to simple, cold economics.

That it got done in the end may be the biggest result in its history.