Irish juggernaut Leinster’s fans struggle to believe in their team may become a massive ally for the Vodacom Bulls in this weekend’s Vodacom United Rugby Championship Grand Final, with the iconic Croke Park likely to be less than half full for the game.
The massive stadium, which can seat 82 300 people and is the heartland of Gaelic Football in Ireland, is a strange venue in Irish rugby terms, but with the Aviva Stadium not available this weekend and the RDS Stadium being rebuilt, the final will take place at Croke Park.
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While the thought of 82 000 baying Irish fans would be massively imposing for the Bulls team that has made its way up to Dublin, news out of the Irish capital is that while sales are better than the quarterfinal and semifinal, it is not likely to come close to the 47 000 fans that the Bulls played in front of this past weekend at Loftus Versfeld.
With all the factors against the travelling team in a final, the Bulls will welcome the fact that they won’t have to face a packed stadium as well.
So far, none of the upper tiers tickets have been opened to the public, with Leinster’s media department announcing on Monday evening that sales are “just shy of 30 000 after the first day of public sales”
That sounds promising - including the fact that they have sold 18 000 tickets to season ticket holders, where they have 15 000 of those, but reports in the Irish media have also talked about a crowd of close to 40 000 and nowhere near full.
Organisers are only likely to open the top tier if sales go above the 40 000 mark for the game but general consensus is that it may not top more than that after 10 000 general sale tickets were snapped up on Monday.
Ireland v Springboks, Croke Park, 2009
Leinster’s average season attendance is 32 000, but that figure falls to under 20 000 when the two derbies against Munster are withdrawn from that figure.
The average attendance this season for URC games has been 12 000 with the quarterfinal against Scarlets drawing 12879 fans and the semifinal win over Glasgow getting 15762 at the Aviva Stadium.
Ticket prices have started at €22.60 (R457) with the top tickets likely to top 100 euros (R2025).
On Monday, Irish hooker Dan Sheehan made a plea for the ticket prices to be reasonable so that the team could get as many fans there as possible.
“Obviously we’ve had great support throughout the year and even the last two weeks it has been great, even though the numbers were low. It is obviously difficult to sell the numbers in the week at this time of the season,” Sheehan said.
“Any support we can get this weekend will be brilliant. Hopefully they can get the pricing right and it is accessible to everyone. We look forward to putting on a good show and hopefully coming away with a trophy at the end of it. It would be great if we could get as many people there as possible.”
By contrast the Bulls almost sold out Loftus Versfeld with more than 47 000 attending their semifinal against the Sharks and if the final was in South Africa, the likelihood would be that it would be sold out, as was last season’s final at the same venue with Glasgow Warriors.
Before departing, Bulls coach Jake White played down the imposing nature of the stadium, and the possibility that 82 000 would be there for the game.
White made mention of the wins against Munster and Glasgow away from home and the point that the Bulls have played some of their best rugby away from Loftus this season. He said those wins would help, but so would winning in front of 47 000 at Loftus Versfeld last Saturday.
“Tonight will help. We had 50 000 people here, you know, and we were at times under the pump with 12 guys on the field,” White said after the game.
“I sort of repeat myself, but that's what sports stars want to do. They want to play in front of the biggest crowds and play their best rugby. And this win will make them play better this week against the big side. It will help them next year when we play another big side. It'll make them better test players when they play test rugby for South Africa.
And that's all part of the little building block.I think you guys have mentioned many times we've probably been better away from home than we have been at home at times. So maybe getting on an aeroplane not having the added pressure of playing in front of a home crowd, but feeling what it's like to play in front of a massive audience.
“All I can show them is you've been there, you've done it, you understand what it's like. Some of you play test rugby. This is when I need you guys to help each other on how we're going to get through this.”
The Bulls will name their side for Saturday’s clash on Thursday.