The Top 14 crosses borders. The Rugby France Championship is entering its final stretch, and it will make a detour abroad for the occasion. The two semi-finals will be played in San Sebastián (San Sebastián, or Donostia in Basque), Spain, about thirty kilometers from Biarritz.
This Friday, June 9 at 21 pm, Stade Toulousain faces Racing 92 in the first semi-final. Then this Saturday, June 10 at 17 pm, the Stade Rochelais challenges the Union Bordeaux-Bègles. Both posters will take place at the Reale Arena, where Real Sociedad football club plays, in San Sebastian. The former Anoeta stadium, renovated in 2019, has already hosted rugby matches from Aviron Bayonnais or Biarritz Olympique, the two French pro clubs nearby.
San Sebastián has applied
It is for this proximity and to enhance its new stadium of 40,000 seats that the city and the Reale Arena have applied to organize the 2023 semi-finals. The National Rugby League (LNR), organizer of the French pro championships, is indeed used to organizing the semi-finals of the Top 14 in a single city. A neutral ground to decide between the teams of the last square of the Top 14, and the opportunity to organize a real rugby party, over 48 hours, with two high-level posters.
In 2022, for example, the semi-finals took place in Nice, in 2021 in Lille. San Sebastián applied, and managed to host these semi-finals last year. The NRL had made public its choice in May 2022. "The NRL is delighted to travel to Donostia/San Sebastián for the semi-finals for the first time," she said in a statement. The whole city will vibrate to the rhythm of the Top 14, with a dedicated village in the city, a city center in the colors of the oval to the mythical Reale Arena stadium and its magical atmosphere. On the program, two days of oval celebration in a warm and very friendly atmosphere. »
There are a few places left at the full price of 120 euros
A party that will be difficult to participate in if you have not taken your tickets, put on sale several months ago, as is customary, even before knowing the posters of the semi-finals. "All the tickets on sale have been sold," the NRL said last week. But a last chance exists: "A quota of 1700 places has been granted to each team of the last square (4,500 places will be for each of the 2 finalist clubs at the Stade de France)", explains the NRL. (...)
"Fans who have not yet purchased their tickets can go to the billetterie.lnr.fr site where the official exchange is currently online. In addition, if the winning clubs return their places, they will be posted on lnr.fr on Wednesday 7 June. On Wednesday, there were still places left for the two semi-finals, Toulouse-Racing and La Rochelle-Bordeaux, but only at the full price of 120 euros.
