Croke Park will not host Ireland Tests - IRFU

May's Investec Champions Cup semi-final between Leinster and Northampton sold out the 82,300-capacity Croke Park in about three hours

The Irish Rugby Football Union [IRFU] has ruled out the possibility of Ireland returning to play Test matches at Croke Park.

In May, the Investec Champions Cup semi-final between Leinster and Northampton sold out the 82,300-capacity stadium in approximately three hours.

Next season, Leinster will play their home matches at the 51,700-capacity Aviva Stadium and Croke while the RDS Arena undergoes regeneration works.

However, IRFU chief executive Kevin Potts says there are no plans for the home of the Gaelic Athletic Association [GAA] to host Ireland matches.

"So Croke Park, they did sell out in three hours which was actually remarkable, but I think we were all taken by that," said Potts.

"My own family members were struggling to get tickets, they were gone, as we all know."

Croke Park also acted as Ireland's temporary home between 2007 and 2010 before the Aviva Stadium opened in May 2010.

"Croke Park and our friends in the GAA are very friendly to Irish rugby and Leinster have access to it when the Aviva isn't available next year, Munster have access to Pairc Ui Chaoimh and the collaboration is fantastic," added Potts.

"But if you're asking me, will there be a Test played there? No. The home of Irish rugby is the Aviva Stadium and that's where our Test games will be played."

Potts, who was appointed IRFU chief executive in 2021, would not comment on reports that the upcoming World Rugby Nations Championship could be staged in Qatar.

Earlier this month, The Daily Telegraph reported Qatar was closing in on an £800m eight-year deal to host the biennial tournament from 2026.

The tournament, which was announced last October, will consist of 12 teams including Ireland and their Six Nations rivals.

"When I can talk about it I will," said Potts.

'Our system has to produce players'

Potts was speaking to reporters at the Aviva Stadium on Thursday as the IRFU launched its latest strategic plan.

During the 50-minute briefing, former Ireland and Ulster fly-half David Humphreys spoke to the media for the first time since his appointment as the IRFU's high performance director in November.

Humphreys, who was director of performance operations with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) before joining the IRFU, laid out his vision for Irish rugby over the next five years.

Part of that vision, Humphreys says, is to ensure the Irish rugby underage and provincial system is producing enough quality players across the men's and women's games.

In recent years, the Ireland men's team has benefitted from World Rugby's three-year residency rule, with New Zealand-born players Jamison Gibson-Park, Bundee Aki and James Lowe all starring for Andy Farrell's side.

But Humphreys is keen to see the Irish system produce "X-factor" players.

"You only need to look at the Irish team that goes out there to see that the X-factor comes from Gibson-Park, Bundee Aki, James Lowe," said Humphreys, who replaces David Nucifora in the IRFU's leadership structure.

"The three-year residency is now gone; it is five years. I don’t think that you are going to see the same, not just in Ireland but across the world, who rely on it more than we do.

"Because of that challenge we have to have our own system here producing not just more but better players across the system. We have to be creative where we go and find players whether that is from other sports, which we will continue to do and try and do it better."

'I will never move a player against their will'

David Humphreys (left) spoke passionately about a wide range of issues in Irish rugby on Thursday

Humphreys, who won 72 caps for Ireland and captained Ulster to European Cup success in 1999, has a wide remit in his new position, including player transfers and contract negotiations.

The 52-year-old called inter-provincial transfers a "really emotive issue in Irish rugby" and revealed his two-pronged approach to the area: ensuring players have the best opportunity to perform in an Irish shirt and giving the provinces the best chance to win the United Rugby Championship and European competitions.

"I'm driven that provincial success and national success aren't mutually exclusive. It's actually the complete opposite. We need our provinces to be competitive so Ireland continue to get to where they've got to.

"But there will be times when we've got to get players game time. The game is the best coach. Without getting into specifics, we have to sit down with the province and look at what's best for the national team and the province."

Humphreys added: "I will never move a player against their will. We will never move a player under contract against their will. It goes back to that identity piece.

"Where you have a player who we believe could be performing out here, sitting in third, fourth or fifth in the province and not getting the gametime that they need to develop, that's sending a strong message about that player's ambition to Andy Farrell and the people who pick the team.

"We want players who are competitive, who are going to give it everything they have to play for Ireland. If they choose not to do that for whatever reason, so be it."