Leinster Announce Pre-Season Friendlies

On Friday, August 23, Leinster will travel north to face Ulster in Ravenhill (kick-off 7.30pm) in a repeat of the recent RaboDirect PRO12 final.

A week later on Friday, August 30, Leinster will face Northampton Saints in the Bank of Ireland Series at Donnybrook (kick-off7pm) ahead of the big season kick-off a week later.

Tickets for the Northampton game are on sale now online here.

While pre-season friendlies are not covered by the Season Ticket, Leinster Rugby will cover the cost of service charges for all Season Ticket holders purchasing tickets for the Northampton Saints fixture at Donnybrook.

To avail of this offer, the province’s Season Ticket holders can simply purchase tickets via their Season Ticket account on www.leinsterrugby.ie.

Looking ahead to both fixtures on the day Leinster announced details of open training sessions in Cill Dara RFC (Friday, August 9) and Dundalk RFC (Thursday, August 22), new Leinster head coach Matt O’Connor said that the squad are excited about the challenges facing them next month.

“It has been a busy few weeks and we are looking forward to having a full complement of players over the next month or so, as we build up two massive pre-season friendlies against top quality opposition,” he said.

“I have been impressed by the application of the players during the pre-season programme, which can be quite gruelling.

“They’re working hard and are enthusiastic about improving as a unit which is encouraging from my perspective and that of the rest of the coaching team.

“You couldn’t ask for tougher opponents than Ulster and Northampton Saints. They’re two hugely talented teams with great aspirations in their respective leagues as well as in Europe.

“Before the (pre-season) games kick off we’re excited about meeting our supporters in Kildare and Louth at our open days as well.”