Saturday, July 31, 2010

Aviva Stadium Kick Off


The first game to be played at the Aviva Stadium will take place today, Saturday 31st of July 2010. The game will be an historic rugby match between two composite provincial teams, Leinster/Ulster team against a Munster/Connacht selection.

As Ariel House is officially the closest hotel to the stadium we are soaking up the Lansdowne Road atmosphere already this morning!

Leinster and Ulster were the first representative teams to play at the old Lansdowne Road nearly 133 years ago on December 16, 1876.
Both provinces were also on hand to play the final game, 'The Last Stand', at the world famous stadium on New Year's Eve 2006, when Leinster beat Ulster 20-12 in the Magners League.

While they were rivals on both of these occasions, they will be joining forces as a Leinster/Ulster selection will play a Munster/Connacht team for the first ever game in the Aviva Stadium.
The game will form part of the provincial pre-season calendar and present Irish rugby stakeholders with the opportunity to be the first to witness rugby returning home to the iconic Aviva Stadium.

The Aviva Stadium will play host to some of the top teams in world rugby during the GUINNESS Series in November this year when Ireland are scheduled to play four internationals for the first time against World champions South Africa, followed by games against Samoa, New Zealand and Argentina.