Leinster's Heineken-sponsored European Cup match against Toulouse has been switched from Stade Les Septs Deniers to Donnybrook because of an explosion at a chemical factory in the French city that saw 29 people killed and thousands injured, 34 seriously.
The match was originally scheduled for Saturday afternoon but will take place on Friday night with a 7.0 kick-off. The game will be broadcast live on RT╔ television. Officials of Stade Toulousain approached Leinster at the weekend, requesting the change of venue and the Leinster Branch was happy to comply.
A minute's silence will be observed before the kick-off and both national flags will be flown at half mast.
Tickets will go on sale from the Leinster Branch offices tomorrow at noon, priced at £10 for ground and £15 for the stand. A capacity crowd of 7,500 is expected.
From a playing perspective, the switch in venue is not all that appealing to Leinster as this guarantees that their first three games in the European Cup will all be at home: the others are against Newcastle and Newport.
It also means that the players who took part in Ireland's Six Nations game against Scotland will have one less day to recover from their exertions. Matt Williams will announce the Leinster team tomorrow.
Meanwhile organisers of the Six Nations championship are poised to scrap matches on a Sunday and could experiment with Friday night games in future seasons.
Officials will consider the move when they hold a tournament committee meeting in Manchester later this week following a study into possible changes to the structure of the competition.
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