Leinster out to heal Champions Cup trauma; and is Aviva Stadium fatigue creeping in?
5/1/202629 min
During the week, it was announced that Leinster’s Champions Cup semi-final with Toulon had sold 30,000 tickets. Now, closer to kick-off, that figure is likely to rise, but it is notable that on the week of a big European game, there were still 20,000 seats available.
Gerry Thornley joins Nathan Johns to chat through why this may be - is there an Aviva fatigue with Leinster calling the stadium home for two years now during the RDS development?
We also preview the on-pitch action as Leinster face the French side while Ulster welcome Exeter in the Challenge Cup semi-final.
Produced by John Casey.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsNathan Johns· Host0:00
[upbeat music] Hello and welcome to the CounterRuck rugby podcast, brought to you by The Irish Times in partnership with OAK Energy. Big weekend in European semifinals for the provinces. Leinster in Champions Cup action, Ulster in the Challenge Cup. Both games at home, one in the Aviva and one up in Belfast. Gerry Thornley is going to join me very shortly to chat through the on-pitch implications of the games, where these might be won and lost. But first, we do have a bit of a chat about the headline figures that were during the week, that Leinster had sold 30,000 tickets for this game. Now, look, they might, in the last few days before Saturday's kickoff, get closer to, uh, the 50,000 mark, which means that they're, they're, they're about to selling out tickets. But it is notable that the week of the game, they still had 20,000 tickets left unsold. So unsurprisingly, Gerry has a few opinions and theories about that, so that's what we kicked off our conversation with. Gerry, how are you? Now we are recording. How are things? Good to s- good to have you.
Gerry Thornley· Guest1:05
Not too bad, thanks. Yourself?
Nathan Johns· Host1:06
Very well.
Gerry Thornley· Guest1:07
I'm still livid about last night and that overturned penalty, but never mind.
Nathan Johns· Host1:11
Oh, wow. Jesus, we won't talk about, uh, how difficult it is to watch Arsenal these days.
Gerry Thornley· Guest1:17
[laughs] Well, I thought they were okay last night. I thought Simeone was a disgrace and Atlético are a disgrace. You should have a touchline ban that fellow for a year. The w- football pitch would be safer. It's a disgrace, but that penalty overturn was a joke.