Ireland

Our Bid

2023

News

The Stade de la Mediterranee, in Beziers, will host the Munster v Castres Heineken Cup semi-final on Saturday April 27th (3pm local time), it was announced today.

In a statement issued today by Westgate Sports Agency, on behalf of ERC, Jean-Pierre Lux, the Chairman of ERC said,

We are now looking forward to having this event in a rugby heartland of France. There have been delays in announcing a venue for this game but ERC needed to allow time to be given in order to assess all options. There is an international airport just 45 minutes from the stadium (Montpellier) and Biziers has proved it can hold major events such as the most recent Rugby World Cup (France v Canada and Fiji v Namibia) as well as RWC matches in 1991 (France v Romania) and the 1997 European Shield final between Bourgoin and Castres.

The stadium will have a capacity of 20,400, with seating for 17,600, for the semi-final. We are confident that it meets all our criteria and the event will be a great success for both sets of fans. With the Leicester Tigers against Llanelli semi-final already confirmed for the City Ground, Nottingham, on Sunday, 28 April, we are looking forward to two great matches on the final leg to the Heineken Cup final at the Millennium Stadium on 25 May."

Pierre Fraisse, the Biziers town council Director of Sports, said: "It is a real joy for Biziers to have been chosen as the venue for this prestigious semi-final of the Heineken Cup. Rugby is part of our culture here - we live for it - and we attach a lot of importance to this. Biziers may not be a huge town but we thrive on big occasions. During the summer 'feria', as many as one million people swell the streets and bars for three or four days. We staged Rugby World Cup matches in both 1991 and 1999 - the stadium is more suited to this kind of big event than for simple club matches. Biziers is also hosting a stage of the Tour de France this summer.

"On behalf of the town of Biziers, it goes without saying that we will do everything possible to ensure the weekend is an absolute success."

Marie Louise Reilly joined her Ireland team-mates Nora Stapleton and Lindsay Peat at a recent Dublin City Council event in support of the upcoming Women's Rugby World Cup. Reilly, who works as a DCC Sports Officer, said: "The team are coming together really well, we're working hard and hopefully August will be really memorable not just for us but for the whole country."

Speaking ahead of Saturday's second Test against Japan, Ireland tour captain Rhys Ruddock said: "We've been happy with the results so far, and there's been bits of the performances we've been really happy with and some bits that we're looking to improve on. Tomorrow marks the last opportunity to go out and do that, so we're all really excited about getting out there now."

Speaking about working with the provinces and monitoring players' progress, Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt told RTE Radio 1: "For us, having the best quality of performance within the provinces, getting some really good coaching from the provincial coaches, which we know is happening at the moment, that's the foundation that we need because in the end we get the players in a match week pretty much."