1 week Ago
LEINSTER WILL PLAY at Aviva Stadium should they qualify for the Champions Cup semi-finals, while Munster would face a trip to Lyon or Bordeaux if they make the last four. EPCR confirmed the planned venues for the semi-final stages this morning. Leinster play Glasgow Warriors in the quarter-finals at the Aviva Stadium this Friday, and will head back to the Dublin 4 venue should they beat the Scottish side.
Last season the province played their semi-final against Northampton Saints in Croke Park. Leinster have already played at the home of the GAA twice this season – selling the stadium out for a URC meeting with Munster in October and thrashing Harlequins 62-0 in front of over 55,000 supporters in their Champions Cup round of 16 tie last weekend. There are no GAA fixtures scheduled for Croke Park on the weekend of the Champions Cup semi-finals.
Munster reached the last eight with a thrilling defeat of Ronan O’Gara’s La Rochelle, and the province will be back in France should they get past Bordeaux-Begles in their quarter-final clash this Saturday. Munster could play either Toulon or Toulouse in the semi-finals, with the two French giants meeting at the Stade Felix Mayol on Sunday. A Toulon v Munster semi-final would be played at Lyon’s 35,000 capacity Stadium de Gerland, with Bordeaux’s 42,100 Matmut Atlantique – home to the city’s soccer team – the venue for a potential Toulouse v Munster semi-final.
The Champions Cup semi-finals will take place on the weekend of 2-4 May, with the final set for 24 May at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium. The clubs with the highest rankings from the pool stage of the tournament earn home country advantage for the semi-finals. The fourth potential semi-final venue is Milton Keynes’ Stadium MK, which would act as the home ground for Northampton Saints, who host Castres in the quarter-finals.
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