Heineken Cup fever grips Edinburgh

Trains and boats and planes are bulging at the seams as all roads lead to Murrayfield. As of late this afternoon just over 600 tickets were still on sale for a match likely to prove a 67,130 capacity sell-out.

The Heineken Cup trophy was welcomed officially to the city by Edinburgh's Lord Provost, the Rt. Hon. George Grubb, no stranger to performing at Murrayfield himself, having won an 800 yards competition at Scotland's biggest stadium during his days at Edinburgh's Royal High School in the 1950s.

The Lord Provost said: ""I am delighted to welcome the Heineken Cup Final back to Edinburgh. The 2005 final was a wonderful spectacle and the city was buzzing for the entire weekend. Attracting a crowd of 52,000 to an all-French final was a terrific achievement then and this weekend will provide further evidence of Edinburgh's credentials as a premier events destination.

"Major international sporting events such as these bring great economic benefit to the city and help us towards our target of making Edinburgh the most physically active city in Europe by 2020."

The 2005 final boosted the local economy by some £15 million and a study is being undertaken this weekend to measure how much a boost the Heineken Cup Final will bring to businesses and the community in and around the Scottish capital.

A spokeswoman for Edinburgh Airport said they were expecting a busy weekend. "It's changing on a daily basis but we're looking at around 25 flights from Dublin alone on Saturday, that's more than quadruple the usual number."

It's the same story for those using the ferry route through Stena Line from Belfast to Stranraer.

"We are exceptionally busy. Our five sailings a day, which can take up to 300 cars, are pretty much full coming out from late Thursday, all day Friday and on Saturday morning," said a spokeswoman.

"It's a Bank Holiday weekend but we're about 33% busier than normal. People started booking for this weekend in February," she added.

A similar exodus of supporters appears to be underway from the English Midlands with train companies also reporting an upsurge of bookings for Edinburgh.

Accommodation is still available in the Capital and Kathryn Macdonald from VisitScotland encouraged supporters to log on to visitscotland.com or to call in at information centres in Edinburgh to assist in their searches.

She added that some enterprising supporters were using train links from North Berwick in East Lothian or from Glasgow in the west given the demand for hotel rooms.

Tickets for Saturday's Heineken Cup Final can be obtained via the Scottish Rugby Ticket Centre, Gate A, Roseburn Street, Edinburgh (opening hours: 9am-5pm Monday to Wednesday, 9am-8pm, Thursday and Friday), by visiting www.scottishrugbytickets.com or by calling the 24 hour telephone credit card hotline on 0871 200 1511.