Over 30,000 Welsh rugby fans have already bought tickets to the ‘Judgement Day’ fixture, which pits the Dragons against the Scarlets and the Blues against the Ospreys in an East versus West Rabo Direct Pro12 double derby day clash, which will now also become a celebration of the national cause.
Most of the Wales squad which retained the title they took in 2012 with a clean sweep, by recording the nation’s greatest ever victory over England last weekend, will be on display on the pitch in Regional team colours introducing some fascinating head to head clashes.
But the coaching team which played its own integral role in the 30-3 victory over England and the retention of the Championship titlein 2013, will also attend as special guests and to see their latest acquisition of silverware paraded in front of the Welsh fans.
The Welsh Rugby Union is hoping to use the event to help fans show the national squad just what their recent successes have meant to them and also allow fans to relive the glorious scenes of Wales’ consummate demolition of England in the capital less than a week ago.
The Judgement Day event in itself represents the first time all four Welsh rugby Regions have come together to play under the same roof and is a chance to celebrate the regional game in Wales and its value to the national game.
“The trophy will be displayed proudly at pitchside and paraded around the groundat both matches,” said a WRU spokesman.
“It’s incredibly difficult to quantify what success on the rugby pitch means for the nation,but the scenes at the Millennium Stadium last weekend go some way to explaining just how passionate we all are about our national sport.
“Judgement Day, a week on Saturday, is a perfect and timely opportunity for us to celebrate again the success of the Wales national squad, to let them know how proud we all are of them and to watch some fascinating clashes as many of them go head to head in their Regional colours.”
Wales flankers Justin Tipuric (Ospreys) and Sam Warburton (Blues) provide the most direct match up of the day, but the likes of Dan Biggar, Adam Jones (Ospreys), Jamie Roberts, Leigh Halfpenny (Blues), Andrew Coombs, Toby Faletau (Dragons), George North and Jonathan Davies (Scarlets) are also set to return to the Millennium Stadium turf to take on their national team-mates.
Judgement Day – Millennium Stadium, Saturday 30 March
Dragons v Scarlets 2.30pm
Blues v Ospreys 5.15pm
Tickets: Adults £25, U18s £10, Family ticket £50 (two adults, two children)
Tickets available from wru.co.uk/tickets; by calling Ticketmaster on 08442 777 888; from Ticketline, Westgate Street Cardiff tel 02920 230130; from the Blues and Dragons box offices; from the WRU store, 47 Westgate Street, Cardiff, and from selected Tesco stores around Wales.
