LONG READ 'Long time coming' - Leinster return to 'fortress' as familiar foes aim to spoil party

Late last year, huddled beside a radiator in the ornate but cavernous Grand Hall, I sat down with Johnny Sexton for a chat about his playing days, retirement and how rugby lured him back as a coach. Sexton was there as, 100 metres away, Laya Arena opened up to guests and reporters for the first time. The venue, known to sports fans as The RDS for years, was nearing the end of a two-year revamp. Leinster, his old club, would be returning there for the 2026-27 season.

“It’s been a long time coming, for Leinster to have a world-class ground,” Sexton commented. “It’s very much going to be like that, but it still retains that intimate sense of the RDS, in terms of how close the crowd are to the pitch.”

Fixing up the Royal Dublin Society Arena had been high on Leinster’s agenda ever since they moved there, from Donnybrook, in 2005. Up until that point the RDS was synonymous for show-jumping, the Dublin Horse Show and Shamrock Rovers’ six-season residency, back in the 1990s. Michael Cheika and Malcolm O’Kelly posed for pictures at the venue, ahead of their game against Cardiff – pointing at things, and having things pointed out to them. The pictures are 21 years old, but look like they could be from the 1980s. Practically sepia.

The ground’s capacity for rugby games, back then, was 13,500. A new stand was ready in time for the 2007-08 season but came without a roof. Leinster supporters were fortunate that it rained during only one of their 10 matches there, that season. The RDS, like Rome, was certainly not built in a day.

In July 2014, Mick Dawson, Leinster’s then CEO, was front-and-centre as the province announced plans to develop the arena into “a 25,000 capacity world-class stadium”. Work was earmarked to begin in April 2016. Two years later, however, Dawson would tell The Irish Times, “The reason that hasn’t happened is we don’t have the money. Simple as.”

Planning permission lapsed for that ambitious 25,000-seater upgrade. By that stage, Leinster were taking a more sober, sensible approach. 20,600 was the new capacity figure, up just over two thousand from what was previously available. There would be a revamp of stands, facilities and corporate areas, too. Shane Nolan, who took over from Dawson as chief executive, told The Sunday Times Leinster are hoping to replicate a model perfected by La Rochelle – modest stadium capacity, improved fan experience, higher season-ticket demands, constant sell-outs. “They have an incredible atmosphere there (at Stade Marcel-Deflandré),” Nolan said. “As regards the fan experience, we’ve stolen a lot of ideas from there.”

For Leinster, Laya Arena is our home. This is where we want to make teams hate having to come and play. You want to make it as hard and uncomfortable as possible.

Whatever the stadium seats, sights and extras, the RDS Arena was an extremely happy hunting ground for Leinster. Over the course of 20 seasons at the venue, they won 189 of their 210 matches (rounding out at an exact win-rate of 90%), with two draws and only 19 defeats. They enjoyed 100% records there in two seasons, 2013-14 and 2019-20.

Leinster moved to Aviva Stadium for the 2025-26 season and, as the RDS development ran over, remained there last season. “Lads playing in the Aviva all year round, for Leinster, I don’t think it was ideal,” Sexton conceded. “They’d have to answer that themselves. For the opposition, going to the Aviva is a big day out for them, as well. But for Leinster, Laya Arena is our home. This is where we want to make teams hate having to come and play. You want to make it as hard and uncomfortable as possible. When there were big European games here, the atmosphere was incredibly special.”

This Saturday, a mere kilometre away from Aviva Stadium, Leinster are back. A home with many licks of fresh paint and a new, sponsored name. Once again, it is Cardiff coming to Dublin for ribbon-cutting. For Leinster hooker Dan Sheehan, it is “hugely exciting” to be back at the old haunt. “When we first heard that we were going to be moving out, it was probably put to us that it would only be a season and now it’s been two full seasons. Obviously, everyone has a lot of great memories here, so there’s great excitement to make sure that we hit the ground running and create that sort of home fortress feeling again.”

Connacht in May 2024″ width=”1200″ height=”820″ />Jimmy O’Brien scored the last of five tries for Leinster in their last game at the RDS against Connacht in May 2024 (Photo Sam Barnes/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

Sheehan made his debut at an empty RDS, in October 2020, as rugby was feeling out how to stage matches during the Covid pandemic. He marked the occasion with two tries against Zebre, and a memorable Man of the Match spot on TV. “I remember the interview after,” he says. “I was effing and blinding because I was very untrained!”

“It’s a proper club ground, edgy and not perfect, which is what a home ground should feel like,” Sheehan adds. “Sometimes you go to these big stadiums and it’s all too manicured, but this is a club ground.”

Leinster have announced Champions Cup pool games against Sale Sharks and Pau will both take place at Laya Arena. Their only Aviva Stadium match will be in the URC, on 24 October, against Munster. Sheehan said playing more European games at their actual home ground was “something that was chatted about in the changing room”.

“We didn’t want to be playing in a half-full Aviva. We’d rather be playing in a full Laya Arena, which is definitely much more exciting. It’s a closer, more intimate feel and I think we all look back on nice European days here. Hopefully we can replicate the same.”

Jimmy O’Brien picked up the last Man of the Match award to be handed out at the ground, after scoring two tries in a win over Connacht. He was another to make his senior debut there, coming on for Conor O’Brien in a 52-7 romp over Ospreys. “I went to a few of the Christmas inter-pros at the RDS with family, growing up, but most of my memories of the place come from playing there,” he says. “The European games were always big, and I can remember James Lowe backing me up with some nice words when I was coming on for my debut. Those days are always special and surreal, but they really stand out when they are at home and you have family and friends there.”

Emmet Farrell has been with Leinster all through their time at the Ballsbridge venue. Farrell played for the province in the 90s and is now switching between performance analyst duties and being skills and kicking coach with the senior squad. Asked for a stand-out memory of the RDS, he offers up Champions Cup victories over Toulouse when the home fans were “electric”.

Caspar has been really good. He’s been touted a lot coming up and you can see why. When you’re training with him, he’s just unbelievably talented.

“Then,” he adds, “when we won the league final against Ulster, in 2013. The final was supposed to be in Kingspan Stadium and they had to move it back to the RDS (as Ulster’s Ravenhill ground was being redeveloped). There was a big crowd from Ulster down and again, the atmosphere was electric. Both groups of fans were really having a good go at each other all game, and it was a real hard war on the pitch.”

Leinster go into Saturday’s game in 13^th position, while Cardiff are second only to Sharks. The reigning league champions lost their opening two games to Lions and Sharks, but at least returned home from South Africa with three bonus points and positive performances from their younger corp. O’Brien highlighted fly-half Caspar Gabriel and back-row Josh Ericson for praise, after they started both games. “Caspar has been really good. He’s been touted a lot coming up and you can see why. When you’re training with him, he’s just unbelievably talented… the same with Josh. He came in last year and got a few opportunities, but you could also see it in training. He’s a bit of a freak athlete; one of the fastest in the squad. He’d be probably one of the fastest backs if he was with us, and he’s so big.”

Farrell is gearing the players up for a Cardiff outfit he says are “definitely the strongest Welsh side”. “They got the better of us twice last year,” he points out, “so they would be very confident. They’ve had a really strong start to the season, with an away win (over Scarlets) in a Welsh derby and a nice, comfortable win on Friday night against Zebre.”

“They’ve got really good half-backs,” he adds. “From my point of view, Callum Sheedy has been playing really well. Their tactical kicking is strong, so we’re going to have to be very secure in the back. Their aerial game is very strong. They did a bit of a job on us over in Cardiff, where they won a lot of the aerial contests, so we need to make sure we have to reverse that trend.”