Wasps move Euro tie to Twickenham

Wasps have moved their Heineken Cup match with Magners League champions Leinster on 17 January to Twickenham.

The stadium's lower bowl will be opened to hold a capacity of 30,000 fans for Wasps' penultimate Pool Two game.

And the match could prove to be crucial in determining who qualifies for the quarter-finals in top spot.

Wasps chief executive Tony Copsey said: "This gives our players and supporters an opportunity to make this one of our biggest fixtures of the season."

Copsey revealed that the 8,800 fans who turned up at Adams Park for Wasps' opening Heineken Cup match against Castres last weekend convinced the club to move the fixture to a bigger ground.

Wasps' High Wycombe ground has a capacity of 10,000.

Taking a Heineken Cup game to the home of English rugby is fitting, especially as we face one of the strongest sides in Ireland

Ian McGeechan

"The support and interest in the European competition shows us that a game of such standing - between the reigning champions of England and Ireland, is deserved of a place on one of the world's greatest rugby stages," added Copsey.

"This gives us another opportunity to welcome a larger crowd to a big Wasps occasion.

"It is our intention to open the lower bowl of Twickenham, holding a capacity of 30,000."

Wasps won the Heineken Cup at the home of English rugby in 2004 and 2007 and went on to claim the Guinness Premiership title on the same turf the following year.

Director of rugby Ian McGeechan said the ground had been a "fantastic second home" for the club.

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"We've enjoyed great displays there and the support has been overwhelming," said McGeechan ahead of his side's Heineken Cup clash against Leinster in Dublin on Saturday.

"Taking a Heineken Cup game to the home of English rugby is fitting, especially as we face one of the strongest sides in Ireland.

"The supporters will make this game the spectacle that it can truly be and I hope that many of them will get behind the team and look to another big game."

Wasps' announcement follows that of Stade Francais who switched their Heineken Cup match against Harlequins on 6 December from Stade Jean Bouin to Stade de France in Paris.

Stade Francais officials were confident of attracting an 80,000 crowd.