When the gates open at 11.30am, the big screens will show the historic demolition of England in 2013, when the home side not only prevented their visitor’s from achieving their own Grand Slam, but wrestled the title from their grasps.
In an online poll, voters favoured the England match ahead of the stadium’s opening match and Wales’ 29-19 victory over South Africa in 1999 and the 2005 Six Nations Grand Slam winning 32-20 victory over Ireland, another thriller at the home of Welsh rugby.
Due to the enhanced security measures at Principality Stadium, the 65,000 plus supporters expected this weekend are being urged to arrive at the venue from three hours before the match kicks off.
The WRU has pledged to entertain the early birds with a screening of the classic game as well as live music from local artists at various fanzones inside the iconic ground.
And that’s not all; during half-time Pembrokeshire opera singer and occasional Crymych RFC and CRCC forward Trystan, who has just signed a multi-album recording deal with Decca, will perform Calon Lân after accompanying the choirs for the much-anticipated singing of the anthems.
Coach Robin McBryde has paid tribute to the unrivalled pre-match atmosphere on offer at the venue and the vital support of the crowd: “As a venue, there’s no better stadium in the world and the entertainment here is second-to-none,” said McBryde. “We are grateful to all the fans for their support and want them to keep coming early, to have a great day out and be in their seats in time for the anthems and the kick off to support the team.”
Stadium Manager Mark Williams issued a reminder to supporters, after a capacity crowd heeded the advice to joint their seats as early as possible for last weekend’s New Zealand clash.
“The earlier you get here the quicker you will get in and we hope the draw of re-living one of Wales’ classic matches will be added incentive for supporters,” said Williams.
“We cannot thank the fans enough for heeding our message about arriving early. We want fans to have the best and safest experience possible, but know that we can’t achieve that without their co-operation.
“The atmosphere was electric before the All Blacks game when the stadium was filled to its rafters. We need more of the same for the South Africa game, it’s an earlier kick-off and possibly a different audience, so we must guard against complacency.
“Showing the live Scotland game against Australia was well received last week and so, with no live game before our match against the Springboks, we hope the fans will enjoy a game from the vaults this week.”
Voting for the screening was counted on WRU’s online twitter poll and via the official Facebook page and an online poll run by Walesonline. For all the information ahead of this weekend, download the fan guide at wru.wales/getmein.
