Venues:There's plenty for Irish fans to look forward to at this year's Six Nations venues – including a long-awaited return to Irish rugby's spiritual home at Lansdowne Road, writes Gavin Cummiskey
DUBLIN
AVIVA STADIUM Capacity: 51,700
v France – Sunday, February 13th – Kick-off 3pm
v England – Saturday, March 19th – Kick-off 5pm
THIS REPRESENTS a homecoming of sorts but really it is an opportunity for atonement after November’s ticket fiasco stained the reopening of the newly refurbished headquarters. The new tiered pricing structure has only reduced 5,000 upper tier and north stand tickets to €65 (from €90 in November), 2,500 (including touchline seats) are €50, while 1,800 schoolboy/girl tickets were dropped from the scandalously high €40 peak to €15.
That still leaves 42,400 tickets priced between €80 and €125 for premium level seats. This figure includes 10 year tickets and corporate. Still, the IRFU was always going to secure full houses against the French and English.
The problem for those who spent a lifetime walking up Lansdowne Road for internationals was the unfamiliarity that came with the pre-match routine of Croke Park once the novelty wore off. People had their habits and they can revert to them now. Punters also have their regular watering holes. Some like to get off the Dart at Sandymount and stroll through Ballsbridge. Others come via Ringsend. The diehards will clap the team onto the coach at the Shelbourne hotel and follow them down Baggot Street.
Afterwards, the same crowd will be found in the old Berkeley Court or Jurys hotel (now both called D4 hotels).
The Sunday game spoils the enjoyment for supporters who can’t really enjoy a night out, not with a clear conscience anyway, due to work the following morning. It means the French aren’t expected in great numbers on February 13th.
But the arrival of England on March 19th makes up for all that. The 5pm Saturday kick-off, following the Thursday bank holiday for St Patrick’s Day, promises to be a belter of a rugby weekend. All back in familiar surroundings.
ROME
STADIO FLAMINIO Capacity: 32,000
Saturday, February 5th – Kick-off 2.30pm
It’s worth taking a day either side of the match to see everything this ancient city has to offer. Go to Vatican City and gaze up at Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Lovers of history, or the film Gladiator, should take a tour of the Colosseum and the catacombs.
Spend at least a few minutes in the Keats-Shelley memorial house before climbing the Spanish steps. If you
are ever going shell out for a Prada handbag, do it on Via Condotti – such an acquisition becomes significantly more expensive in Dublin leading up to Christmas. Trust me.
This is the last opportunity to experience an old-world rugby ground in the Six Nations. The Stadio Flaminio will be modernised when Ireland return in 2013. An open-air football stadium (home to Atletico Roma) ensures a constant din from the locals unless Brian O’Driscoll and Tommy Bowe can silence them like they did two years ago. Situated along the Via Flaminia, 3km from the city centre, it can be reached by tram.
Rome has plenty of places to dine out – but just as many disaster zones. The best advice is to befriend your concierge, but ignore the first suggestion as there is probably a pre-arranged deal in place. Make him tell you about two or three hidden gems. Do not eat anywhere near the Colosseum.
At night, stroll from piazza to piazza until you reach the Trevi Fountain. If you are still scrambling for accommodation, the nearby hotel Quirinale is affordable and the rooms have a real old-fashioned Italian feel.
MURRAYFIELD Capacity: 67,130
Sunday, February 27th – Kick-off 3pm
My father’s only venture to this Six Nations fixture ended in failure. He turned 62 recently and his twin brother informed me of the time his antics 40 years ago saw him confined to an Edinburgh dungeon while matters unfolded at Murrayfield.
Without giving it much consideration, my Dad couldnt resist trying on a Bobby’s cap. Everyone enjoyed the cheeky act, well, everyone except the person that really mattered.
There are several ways to spend a rugby weekend in Edinburgh. If you are of the police helmet-stealing variety, go to the Three Sisters on Cowgate Street après match. It supplies decent enough grub for soakage purposes and a large courtyard to allow punters come back to the surface for air before diving back into the low-ceiling interior that will be populated by Stag and Hen parties. For the more refined travelling party, we recommend the newly refurbished Kitchen restaurant in Commercial Quay. Book in advance.
For those who fall between these two stools, check out Mathers bar on Broughton Street for a steak pie and some sensible chatter about what has just transpired at a stadium that will always hold a special place in the heart of Leinster fans as it was here the Heineken Cup was captured in 2009.
Usually guaranteed to be a great weekend, the attraction is lessened by the Sunday scheduling but Murrayfield – situated within walking distance or a short bus ride from the city – is on a direct route to the airport for those who need to be back at their desks come Monday morning.
At least it frees up your Saturday afternoon to clamber up the royal mile and spy the city from Edinburgh Castle. The many pubs in the Haymarket area are also worth frequenting that evening to watch England play France at Twickenham (kick-off 5pm). The Rome alternative has damaged the flow of Irish traffic to the city in recent years, which is a shame as it rarely disappoints both on and off the field.
MILLENNIUM STADIUM Capacity: 74,500
Saturday, March 12th – Kick-off 5pm
Not a weekend for the faint-hearted. If you want to do it cheaply and gain maximum value from the adventure, take Friday off and drive to Rosslare where a ferry will be waiting to ship you across the water.
The Cardiff experience is the polar opposite to Rome. Picture the IRFU building a stadium in St Stephen’s Green. It doesn’t get more central. For the rough and ready out there, check out The Walkabout (just a stone’s throw from the ground) on St Mary’s Street. When the taps finally dry up, a wander down Chip Alley is essential for those on their maiden voyage to this city.
Warning: Chip Alley, a self-explanatory narrow alley of chippers, circa 2am is an experience that requires you keeping your wits about you as most people on that same path will not be so lucid. Cardiff has an unfair reputation for being rough but, by and large, the locals are good natured people who love their rugby.
The Millennium stadium is a must see for any rugby fan. Even high up in the rafters you have a decent view of the pitch, unlike other newly constructed stadiums, and the Welsh anthem or the line “feed me til I want no more’ being boomed out can take your breath away.
The Grand Slam celebrations of 2005, achieved at Irelands expense, was comparable to Rio de Janeiro after Brazil won the World Cup. Different accents but the same explosion of joy. Hopefully, Welsh coach Warren Gatland will opt to close the stadium roof, as the decibel levels are immense when the Welsh loosen their vocal chords for Bread of Heaven.
Munster folk will always have their 2006 and 2008 Heineken Cup wins to savour, and while Ireland cannot repeat the 2009 Grand Slam experience this season, it is the penultimate fixture and victory could possibly set up a winner- takes-all scenario against England in Dublin seven days later.
