Toulouse have reached their first final since 1996

The Heineken Cup final between Toulouse and Perpignan on 24 May will go ahead as scheduled at Lansdowne Road.

European Rugby Cup (ERC) officials have confirmed the decider will stay in Dublin despite appeals by both clubs to switch the final to France.

Organisers announced last autumn that Dublin would stage the final, priror to the start of the tournament, the second year they have done so.

Dublin party without a host

Six thousand tickets were sold in January and around 1,200 hospitality packages before the semi-final.

"The huge contribution the Irish teams have made to the tournament, and the firm belief that Ireland had the local support base should there be no Irish participation in the final, contributed to Dublin being unanimously supported by all competing nations for the 2003 final - total support that remains intact," said the ERC in a statement.

"Title sponsors Heineken and all the tournament partners remain fully supportive of the Dublin final and both finalists were fully aware before the tournament started that Dublin was the venue for this major European event."

Perpignan have already said they are absolutely delighted to be returning to Lansdowne Road ERC spokesman

ERC president Jean-Pierre Lux remains confident the game will be a commercial success.

"We will fill Lansdowne Road, but it's true the great majority will be spectators and not supporters," he said.

''I realise a final is a party for the fans and it would be a shame to deny them that."

Toulouse and Perpignan, who have been allocated 15,000 tickets between them, said they could fill the Marseille Velodrome, which has a 60,000 capacity - 12,000 more than Lansdowne Road.

Toulouse and Perpignan beat Munster and Leinster respectively over the weekend to deny the Irish a place in the final.

An ERC spokesman added: "Last year we had an English team and an Irish team at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.