15,000 tickets to go on sale for Leinster vs Harlequins friendly at Aviva Stadium

A general view of the Aviva Stadium. Picture: INPHO/Bryan Keane

Leinster will welcome 15,000 fans to the Aviva Stadium for a pre-season friendly against Premiership champions Harlequins and for their first home game in the new United Rugby Championship, the province have announced.

The English kingpins, who have Jerry Flannery among their coaching staff, will come to Dublin for the Friday, September 10 clash (kick-off 7pm).

Leinster's 12,000 season-ticket holders will get priority for the friendly, and the opening game of the domestic campaign with the national stadium favoured over their traditional home, the RDS due to Covid restrictions.

Leinster Rugby CEO Mick Dawson indicated that the Landsdowne Road venue will be used by the province until these restrictions are eased, to ensure season ticket holders can attend games.

"There has been a huge amount of progress over the last few months as the country starts to recover from the impact of Covid-19, but the reality is that we are still some way short of normality for a lot of industries, ours included," he told the club website.

"At this moment in time, with the current restrictions in place and likely to be in place for at least another month, we would be unable to accommodate the over 12,000 Season Ticket Holders that have committed to us for the season ahead in the RDS Arena.

"Until we can guarantee their tickets, it is very difficult to commit to games at the RDS Arena and we hope by announcing this decision now it gives clarity to supporters who might have been concerned about their purchase with the season less than a month away."

Mr Dawson added that the province plan on returning to the RDS "when we can accommodate all of our season ticket holders".