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Ryanair claim Leinster face away match flight chaos this winter

Leinster's Joe McCarthy (Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

Leo Cullen’s Leinster squad face a potential winter travel headache as restrictions on the number of flights to and from Dublin airport could force them to travel to upcoming matches in the UK and France from either Belfast, Cork or Shannon airports.

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The Irish province play at Bristol on December 8 and at La Rochelle on January 12 in the Investec Champions Cup, while they also have a February 14 game away to Ospreys in Swansea in the URC.

Leinster have struck a deal with Ryanair for charter flights to fly Cullen’s squad to and from these matches, but the Irish-headquartered airline fears the Irish Aviation Authority will reject their request for extra flight slots out of Dublin.

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A round trip by road from the Leinster training base at UCD to Belfast airport would be 372kms, to Shannon 468kms and Cork 544kms compared to just 34kms to Dublin airport.

The IAA have capped capacity at Dublin airport at 14.4million passengers from October to March, meaning additional landing and take-off slots must be applied for winter charter flights.

Fixture
Investec Champions Cup
Bristol
11:30
8 Dec 24
Leinster
All Stats and Data

Meanwhile, the Dublin Airport Authority said last week it expected to breach the passenger cap this year, with Dublin Airport handling 33 million passengers during 2024.

Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary met with Irish junior transport minister James Lawless on Wednesday regarding the passenger cap and he claimed their talks were unproductive, fuelling the possibility that Leinster will have to travel by bus from Dublin to either Belfast, Shannon or Cork to get to their games in England, France and Wales.

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Correspondence seen by RugbyPass read: “Ryanair, Europe’s No1 airline, has applied to the Irish Aviation Authority for extra slots for Leinster Rugby charters to Bristol, La Rochelle and Cardiff in December 2024 and January/February 2025, so that Leinster can fulfil their EPCR and URC fixtures.

“Ryanair has reached agreement with Leinster Rugby on these charters, subject to obtaining slots from the IAA. Ryanair expects the IAA to reject these slots as these are extra flights.”

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R
RedWarrior 1 hour ago
Three-way race to be number one in World Rugby men's rankings

IF SA and NZ win then its 1,2,3 SA/NZ/IRL Otherwise as you were. This is largely irrelevant beyond bragging rights.


As I have pointed out elsewhere the practical use of the Rankings is to determine the seedings bands for the RWC draw. The draw takes place early 2026 and hopefully the rankings will be taken from then.


Important to be in the top 6, the top 12. (and likely the top 4).

This is because there are now 6 groups in the RWC 2027.

If you are in top 6 you are in Seeding Band 1. That means none of the other top 6 will be in your group.

Seeding Band 2 are teams from 7-12, who will have a top 6 team but no other 7-12 team.

After England's defeat by NZ there is clear water between NZ in 3rd, France in 4th and England in 5th. England are desperate for top4, ill come back and explain why later.

Lets look at Seeding Band 1 and 6th place. If you make 6th, no top 6 team is in your group, you are top dog. If you win your group, you won't be facing a top 6 team in your 1/8th final, you will be facing a weaker team. If you fail to make 6th place you WILL have a top 6 team in your group and if you don't win your group you WILL (probably) meet a top 6 in the 1/8 final. That's massive.


Its Argentina holding 6th now. Assuming England hold 5th, then its a 4 horse race for 6th. Argentina, Scotland, Italy and ...Australia. (ranked 6,7,8,9)

Australia play the Lions in NH summer 2025 they are running out of time to get up to 6th for their own RWC. They MUST make a move now. They must beat Wales and they really must beat Scotland to gain points and take points off them. Could they surprise England or Ireland? England may be the better bet but Schmidt knows Ireland so well having masterminded their downfall in France.

Another one to watch is Italy V Argentina. Italy are ambitious and they will want to start pushing the likes of Argentina. If they win this they are still in the hunt. Well worth a watch either way.


Top4: I think the top 6 will be seeded, all the way through from the draw. If thats the case then the top 4 will be seeded to avoid each other until the semi. Good for more certainty around ticket sales etc. That's a possible reason why England want in there. You're not in there you are hitting a top 4 team in a QF. That's an extra 50:50 match you can do without and avoid by being top 4.


Lets look at what Seeding bands might look like with todays rankings:


Seeding Band 1

IRE/SA/NZ/FRA/ENG/ARG

Seeding Band 2

SCO/ITA/AUS/FIJ/WAL/GEO


Sample Aussie strongest pool opponent and 1/8th final opponent if in top 6

Strongest pool opponent: FIJI

1/8 final opponent GEORGIA

Prognosis: advance to 1/4 and potentially beyond


Sample Aussie strongest pool opponent and 1/8th final opponent if NOT in top 6

Strongest pool opponent: SOUTH AFRICA

1/8 final opponent NEW ZEALAND

Prognosis: You know the prognosis


I am pretty sure this is not lost on Joe Schmidt?


Keep in mind when enjoying the matches.

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