Biarritz Olympique have confirmed Real Sociedad's Estadio Anoeta in San Sebastian as the venue for the Heineken European cup quarter-final against Munster on Sunday, April 3rd.
A comprehensive proposal has been sent to the ERC who along with the French rugby union (FFR) are expected to approve the switch after the tournament's operations director Yvan Cebenka leads a delegation to the 32,000 all-seater ground today.
The neighbouring Basque clubs resolved the tricky television rights conundrum, caused by moving over a national border, while Real play their La Liga match against Osasuna on Saturday, April 2nd at 6 p.m. - 22 hours before the rugby kick-off. Significantly, the soccer match is a local derby, which should add to the carnival atmosphere created by the incoming red army.
A stumbling block is hard to foresee; the playing dimensions of the soccer ground (105 x 70 metres) appear adequate if a little tight for a dead-ball area. Yet, IRB rules only state "the distance from goal-line to dead-line should not be less than 10 metres where practicable."
Although no European Cup match has ever been played at the ground, Ulster did play a pre-season game there in June 1998 against the first ever Basque selection (losing heavily), while international players will be familiar with the area having travelled to Bilbao for warm weather training ahead of the 2003 World Cup.
The move ensures the expected strong Munster contingent will have greater access to tickets as 25 per cent of stadium capacity goes to the visitors. By staying in Biarritz, at the Parc des Sports Aguilera (12,667 capacity), the Munster branch would only have received around 3,200 tickets but are now guaranteed 8,000.
Biarrtiz even displayed their goodwill and consideration for the travelling support that have already booked flights to their city by promising to organise coach transport to and from San Sebastian on the match day.
Munster coach Alan Gaffney is unperturbed by the situation, despite not knowing whether his side runs onto a soccer or rugby surface.
"None of the boys have mentioned it," he said. "It only really effects the fans and it's just a pity we couldn't have run in tries three and four against Harlequins in Twickenham to save them putting their hands in their pockets. It could even be a bonus as they (Biarritz) don't know the ground either."
Gaffney has resisted naming a side for Sunday's televised evening match (on Setanta) against Glasgow in Thomond Park but he is expected to include Irish reserves Frankie Sheahan, Marcus Horan and Donncha O'Callaghan in the front five after they were made available by the Irish management.
Regarding Gaffney's contract negotiations - his three years are up at the end of the season and his name has gone forward for the new Super 14 Franchise in Perth - Munster chief executive Garrett Fitzgerald stated: "We had informal discussions in January and we will be sitting down with Alan and all the relevant people in the coming weeks to discuss it further. It's the middle of the season so we don't want it to be disrupting the squad or management by making it a public discussion."
Former New Zealand coach John Mitchell is another name currently in the hat for the new Southern Hemisphere franchise, while Fitzgerald stressed Munster are keen to keep hold of the 58-year old Australian after three productive seasons.
Meanwhile, Irish under-21 scrumhalf Cillian Willis was suspended for six weeks at yesterday's Six Nations disciplinary hearing in London for a reckless kick to the head during last Fridays match against Scotland in Falkirk.
At the same hearing, the three-man panel, comprising Jeff Blackett (England, chairman), John West (Ireland) and Bruce Reece-Russell (England) exonerated Italian number eight Sergio Parisse of stamping on a Welsh opponent with the action deemed accidental rather than intentional or reckless.
The ERC said yesterday that 28,000 tickets have been sold for the European Cup final on May 22nd, significantly more than last year. The final is in Murrayfield, which has a 67,500 capacity.
