In light of the foot and mouth outbreak in Britain, European Rugby Cup Ltd, organisers of the Heineken Cup and European Shield, can confirm that under current circumstances the two semi finals in the Heineken Cup will go ahead as scheduled – Stade Francais will play Munster in Lille on Saturday, 21 April and Gloucester will meet Leicester at Vicarage Road on the same date.

The European Shield semi-finals will also go ahead as scheduled – Narbonne v Agen in Toulouse on 21 April and Newcastle v NEC Harlequins at Headingley on 22 April.

ERC Ltd is in constant contact with the Six Nations and the relevant Unions to assess the effect the impact the foot and mouth disease may have on the two tournaments.

ERC Ltd is also in on-going discussions with the Irish Government. The ERC Ltd board will meet on 3 April when the situation will once again be considered.

For Further Information Contact

Diarmaid Murphy, ERC Public Relations Manager
(00353) (0) 876942022