Leinster top the attendance table in the RaboDirect

Whatever happens in at the end of the RaboDirect PRO12 campaign, Leinster are at least guaranteed to top the attendance table with quite a bit to spare.

By Declan Whooley

The reigning European champions may have been disappointed to exit the Heineken Cup at the pool stage, but their supporters are still turning out in big numbers for the bread and butter of the league.

Figures released this week show that their average gate of 19,791 – up 768 on the previous season – puts them well ahead of Munster in second place. Rob Penney’s men had an average of 14,137 in their Red Army cheering them on, a drop of 761 from the previous campaign.

In fact Ulster make it an all-Irish top three with a significant increase over the past 12 months, with an extra 2,011 coming through the turnstiles bringing their average gate up to an impressive 10,307 at Ravenhill.

The progress at Connacht shows no signs of slowing down and the Sportsground saw an average of over 5,000 cheering on Eric Elwood in his final season in charge, putting them ahead of both of the Scottish and Italian clubs, a 10 per cent increase on the previous year.

Not surprisingly, last October’s Leinster v Munster game was the best attended of the campaign with 46,280 flocking to the Aviva to see the Interprovincial derby.