RUGBY NEWS:MUNSTER'S CHALLENGE for the title may have fallen at the semi-final stage in the RDS two weeks ago but their fans' claims that they are the best supported team in Europe went some way towards being proven as fact yesterday. According to figures released by the Magners League, last year's winners attracted over twice the competition average of 8,576 to Thomond Park and Musgrave Park over the regular 18 rounds of play this season.
Proving they are still one of Europe’s main draws, average ticket sales for Munster topped 18,600, which represents a four per cent increase on the 2008-09 season and makes them the best supported team in the competition.
“Congratulations must go to Munster on ending another season as the Magners League’s Best Supported Team. The loyalty of their fans is renowned throughout Europe, and the support they give their team is outstanding,” said director of Celtic Rugby, David Jordan.
Overall crowds were up for the competition and for the first time in the tournament’s history figures reached the three quarters of a million mark. The 771,852 attendance represents an increase of 5.5 per cent on last season. That average figure of 8,576 also represents more than double the average of 3,802 recorded six years ago, when home and away games in the competition first started.
Significant increases in attendance for Glasgow, Cardiff and Connacht have significantly pushed up the overall numbers.
“Almost all Magners League teams have recorded an increase in their gates this year; Glasgow Warriors by nearly 28 per cent, Cardiff Blues 25 per cent, whilst Connacht have seen an eight per cent increase,” added Jordan.
“This is a remarkable achievement in a year of economic turmoil, travel chaos and weather interruptions. Saturday’s grand final clash between Leinster and Ospreys should provide ample proof of the magic that has enticed so many new fans into the Magners League.”
In Europe’s premier competition, the Heineken Cup, the draw for the six pools for next season’s competition will take place on Tuesday, June 8th.
Munster and Leinster will again be kept apart from each other and apart from the four other Tier One teams in the tournament, this year’s champions Toulouse, Guinness Premiership title holders Leicester Tigers, Cardiff Blues and Biarritz Olympique.
Two new teams, Toulon and Racing Metro, come into the competition, both of them from France. Toulon lost out to Cardiff Blues in the Amlin Challenge Cup final which, like the Magners League, also posted record attendances
A record crowd of 48,990 watched the Challenge Cup final in Marseille’s Stade Velodrome, while 78,962 people flocked to Paris to watch Guy Noves’ Toulouse team add the 2010 European crown to the titles they won in 1996, 2003 and 2005.
The finals of the two ERC tournaments, Amlin Challenge and Heineken Cup, were watched by 127,952 fans, which beat the old combined mark set in season 2003/04 by over 32,000. Over one million fans – 1,081,430 – went through the turnstiles for 79 Heineken Cup matches.
Aside from Saturday’s Magners League final in the RDS between Leinster and Ospreys, three other Irish players could be in action at Twickenham.
Leicester Tigers will compete in their sixth consecutive Guinness Premiership final when they face Saracens at London HQ on Saturday at 5.30pm, where Geordan Murphy, Johne Murphy and Jeremy Staunton may be involved.
It is Geordan Murphy’s testimonial year along with that of England backrow Lewis Moody. The Irish fullback has been with Leicester since the 1997-98 season.
Appointed club captain in succession to Martin Corry for the this season, Murphy has won six Guinness Premiership titles and played in four Heineken Cup finals for the club, captaining Tigers in both major finals last season.
Leicester, due to their big game reputation, go into the game as marginal favourites, having narrowly beaten London Irish 10-9 last season in the final.
Heineken Cup qualifiers 2010/11
ENGLAND (6)
Leicester Tigers, London Wasps, Northampton Saints, Bath Rugby, London Irish, Saracens.
FRANCE (7)
Toulouse, Biarritz Olympique, ASM Clermont Auvergne, Perpignan, Castres Olympique, RC Toulon, Racing-Metro. IRELAND (3)
Munster, Leinster, Ulster Rugby.
ITALY (2)
Benetton Treviso, Aironi Rugby. SCOTLAND (2)
Glasgow Warriors, Edinburgh.
WALES (4)
Cardiff Blues, Ospreys, Scarlets, Newport Gwent Dragons.
TIER ONE TEAMS
(in separate pools)
Toulouse, Leicester, Biarritz, Cardiff, Leinster, Munster.
HEINEKEN CUP FINAL:
May 21/22nd, 2011, Millennium Stadium, Cardiff.
