Rugby: Match timings are a real kick-off in the teeth bemoans Fitzgerald

Ironically, complaints from Munster’s chief executive centre on the Rabo Direct League but come at a time when the Limerick-based outfit are obliged to face Edinburgh at an unfamiliar 12.45pm start-time.

As unsold tickets for tomorrow’s clash continued to circulate Garrett Fitzgerald channelled most of his ire towards 8pm kick-offs the likes of which, on a Saturday night, meant just 4639 turned up at Murrayfield when the teams met last month.

“The timings of the games are not spectator friendly, 8pm kick-offs are too late, especially for people who have to travel,” said Fitzgerald, adding: “The game won’t be over until 10pm and a lot of our supporters would have an average journey of a 120-mile round trip. That means they don’t get home until midnight, that means they don’t attend, particularly those accompanied by younger fans.”

Fitzgerald added: “We have received about 2,000 tickets back from Edinburgh’s allocation.”