THE AVIVA STADIUM will host the inaugural Guinness Pro14 final after beating off competition from a number of other bids, including ‘from non-traditional rugby venues.’

A record crowd of 45,566 attended last year’s decider between Munster and Scarlets at Lansdowne Road and Pro14 organisers have this morning announced the showpiece final will be returning to the capital on 26 May 2018.

“Aviva Stadium is a world-class arena and that is one of the top-ranking criteria when it comes to deciding upon the venue for our showpiece game,” Martin Anayi, CEO of Pro14 Rugby, said.

“With our expansion into South Africa and the inclusion of the Toyota Cheetahs and Southern Kings we’ve also increased the size of the Guinness Pro14 Final Series which gives six teams the opportunity to reach the knock-out stages.

“For fans that means greater opportunities for their teams to reach the Guinness PRO14 Final in Dublin and experience the Test-level standards and drama that knock-out rugby produces.”

The 2017/18 season, which gets underway on the weekend of 1 September, will see the inclusion of South African teams the Toyota Cheetahs and Southern Kings with the competition split up into two conferences.

Anayi added that organisers received expressions of interest from various different venues across the UK, Ireland and further afield.

“Dublin is a fantastic venue for rugby supporters who are used to coming here in the Six Nations while it is also the home of our title sponsors, Guinness, who are really excited at playing hosts for the thousands and thousands of passionate fans who will descend on Dublin.

“When we sat down to review our options for the 2018 Guinness Pro14 Final we had a lot of interest from across the UK, Ireland and further afield. Some of those expressions of interest came from non-traditional rugby venues and while those options were appealing we needed to ensure that we put our fans first.

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“Stadium availability always comes into focus as well and once we factored in event clashes in other countries then Dublin became the front-runner for 2018.”

Tickets for the 2018 final will go on sale today on an early bird basis via ticketmaster.ie with prices starting from €30 for adults and €5 for children.

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