Neutral demand for tickets may limit Irish hordes at Stade de France

The green army may be limited to around 25,000 at the Stade de France on Saturday night

SUPER SUPPORT: Ireland supporters celebrate after last Saturday's match between Ireland and Scotland at the Stade de France. 

Another raucous Irish crowd is expected to descend on Saint-Denis this Saturday night as Ireland look to make history. 

Beating the All Blacks brings with it historic progress to the semi-finals, but what about those looking to grab a last-minute ticket yo the hottest show in town this Saturday night? 

There are currently no tickets available through the Rugby World Cup website for the clash, leaving fans with the avenue of delving into the precarious market of re-sellers. 

There are also hospitality packages available online - with the hefty accompanying price of over €2,000 a head the obvious caveat. 

But how many Irish can we expect inside the Stade de France on Saturday?

Paddy Baird of Killester Travel told the Irish Examiner that, while he still expects the Irish to rock up to the Stade de France in their thousands, he doesn't foresee a repeat of the numbers seen at the pool stage clashes against Scotland and South Africa, for one very good reason.

"I'd say we're looking at 20,000-plus Irish there. It's not going to be like Scotland or South Africa," Baird said. "A lot of people have bought packages, whose countries aren't even involved in this. We'll be doing very well to get 20,000 seats there. 

"We'll be well represented at the quarter-final but there won't be as big an Irish crowd there as there was at the Scotland game, for sure. But still, there is a great, great demand."

Followers of Andy Farrell's charges have managed to improvise better than most at this World Cup but whether they can work the oracle again this time remains to be seen. 

Baird has also noted the extra Irish appetite for semi- and final packages with a major increase in demand compared to the last number of World Cups.  There's a buy-in and belief from the Irish supporting cast.

"For the semis, 20 to 30 (packages) would have been booked for the previous six or seven World Cups we have done," Baird said. "Then for the final, we might have maybe 50 to 100.

"For this year's semi-finals, we have 200 to 300 booked already and for the final, we have around 800 booked."

He continued: "People have actually bought into it, they believe. There's a lot more expectation with this team. People really feel they can do it."