Croke Park Set for Leinster Rugby Semi If Win Secured on Saturday

Prior to their quarterfinal matchup with La Rochelle on Saturday in the Investec Champions Cup, the stakes have never been higher for Leinster Rugby.

They will host a home semifinal at Dublin’s Croke Park if they exact retribution on Ronan O’Gara’s team, who they have defeated the past two seasons.

In an effort to fill the 15-year void left by the last club rugby match played in the stadium, European Professional Club Rugby has chosen GAA HQ as one of the possible locations for a match in the tournament’s penultimate round.

That was the time Leinster beat Munster in a historic 2009 Heineken Cup semifinal that set a world record for club match attendance at the time.

If number-two-ranked Leinster defeats holders Stade Rochelais in Saturday’s quarterfinal, they will play either Northampton Saints or the Vodacom Bulls at Croke Park on the weekend of May 4–5. The Aviva Stadium is unavailable for the Investec Champions Cup semi-finals due to preparations for the UEFA Europa League final.

The top-seeded Stade Toulousain team will play Union Bordeaux-Bègles or Harlequins at Le Stadium in Toulouse if they advance to the final four.

The fourth-ranked Union Bordeaux-Bègles will play the Exeter Chiefs at Matmut ATLANTIQUE in Bordeaux if they also qualify with home-country advantage, while the third-ranked Northampton Saints will play Stade Rochelais at Stadium MK in Milton Keynes.

if Harlequins qualify to meet the Exeter Chiefs, the match will be staged at Ashton Gate Stadium in Bristol, and if the Vodacom Bulls book a semi-final place against Stade Rochelais, then the UK venue for that fixture will be announced pending results from this weekend’s quarter-finals.

The clubs with the highest rankings from the pool stage of the tournament will earn home country advantage for the semi-finals, and the exact dates, venues, kick-off times and TV coverage for the matches will be announced as soon as possible following the quarter-finals.

The Investec Champions Cup and EPCR Challenge Cup season reaches its climax at London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Friday 24 and Saturday 25 May with the top clubs from each competition battling it out to win the coveted trophies. Tickets are selling fast with 65,000 already purchased for the showpiece finals weekend which is widely regarded as the pinnacle of international club rugby.