THE IRFU HAS confirmed that all three home fixtures in the 2014 Six Nations have sold out.
The games against Scotland, Wales and Italy will be sell-out affairs assuming the visiting nations take up their full allocation for travelling supporters. Lansdowne Road can accommodate up to 51,700 people.
Ireland coach Joe Schmidt will be hoping flanker Sean O’Brien will not be another face in the home crowd after the flanker dislocated his shoulder last night. O’Brien’s Leinster coach Matt O’Connor, speaking after his side beat Ulster 19-6, commented, “He got a bang on it, the medics are in there now and we should know more by tomorrow.” Given the severity of the injury, O’Brien could be out from anything from three weeks to six months.
Padraig Power, director of commercial and marketing with the IRFU, believes Ireland’s ‘scintillating performance’ in the narrow defeat to New Zealand was led to a greater sense of anticipation for the home ties. Irish supporters, he added, turned the stadium into a ‘cauldron of noise’ for the match against the world champions.
Ireland kick-off their campaign with a home tie against Scotland followed by a crunch encounter with Wales a week later. Italy visit on 8 March for what should be Brian O’Driscoll’s last home game in the green jersey.
Ireland Women’s team are playing their Italian counterparts earlier in the day on 8 March. The IRFU announced that additional ticketing information for the fixture would be confirmed in January. This suggests that a tranche of standalone tickets may yet be made available for the game.
