The 2013 Heineken Cup final will be staged at the Aviva Stadium. (Pic: Julien Behal/PA)

The 2013 Heineken Cup final will be staged at the Aviva Stadium, tournament organisers ERC have announced.

The competition’s showpiece will return to Dublin for the first time since 2003 when Toulouse beat Perpignan 22-17 at the old Lansdowne Road.

It will be the Heineken Cup’s 18th year with Twickenham already having been selected to host next season’s final.

Leinster defeated Leicester and Toulouse at the Aviva Stadium en route to winning their second European crown last season.

ERC chief executive Derek McGrath is confident the venue will do the occasion justice.

“The Aviva Stadium is a world-class venue which has quickly established a close affinity with the Heineken Cup having staged three matches last season,” said McGrath.

“The Heineken Cup final has become one of the most prestigious sporting fixtures in the European calendar and it now requires long-range planning in order to deliver the spectacle we enjoyed in Cardiff just over a fortnight ago.

“Last year we confirmed the final venues for the following two seasons, and today’s announcement allows ERC to prepare the way for Dublin in 2013 while we continue to work with Twickenham on next season’s final in May 2012.

“Ireland has provided four Heineken Cup champions in the past six seasons and Irish rugby is steeped in the history of the tournament since it began 16 years ago.

“The decision of the ERC Board to bring the Heineken Cup final back to Dublin is further recognition of the passion that Irish fans have for the tournament.”

Ronan O’Gara has issued an emotional plea for Ireland fans to defy the bleak economic climate by reviving their support for the team.

Swathes of empty seats greeted the homecoming to Lansdowne Road with only 35,515 tickets sold for Saturday’s 23-21 defeat by South Africa, over 16,000 short of the 51,700 capacity.

What should have been a momentous occasion to celebrate the Test debut of the €320m Aviva Stadium instead descended into a PR disaster by the greed of the Irish Rugby Football Union.

The IRFU last week apologised for their pricing strategy – tickets were only available in two-match packages costing €166 or €131 – and were punished by spells of the match being played against a backdrop of eerie silence.

It was an unsatisfying way for O’Gara – a magnificent servant to Irish rugby – to celebrate his 100th cap, even if his introduction from the bench with 15 minutes remaining did inspire a spirited fightback.

O’Gara knows supporters are suffering during the recession that continues to blight the ‘Celtic Tiger’, but confessed that the team needs their loyalty like never before.

“It’s strange…the whole economic situation has affected people really badly, more than people appreciate. It’s probably only going to get worse,” he said.

“I don’t know how many were there but there were empty seats all over the stadium. It’s probably a sign of things to come.

“Next week I don’t know how many thousand will be there for Samoa….it’s reality and is something everyone has to look at in terms of getting pricing right.

“We need the supporters – it’s because of them that Ireland have been so good for so long.

“At the old Lansdowne Road there was an unbelievable atmosphere, so passionate and driven. We have to get those days back.

“Emotionally Ireland’s greatest tool has been their fans. They’ve been so good to this team and we need them back.

“We need them more than ever. We miss them.”

The mass of empty seats and a late assault on South Africa’s lead deflected attention from a poor performance by Ireland, who slumped to their fourth successive Test defeat, six in all matches.

Hammered at the set-piece, error-ridden in the loose and with a incoherent gameplan, they failed to justify their tag as firm favourites.

South Africa, ravaged by injury, possessed minimal threat outside the pack and half-backs and were little more than muscular and efficient.

The wind and rain were offered as an explanation by captain Brian O’Driscoll for the number of handling mistakes, but from O’Gara’s vantage point on the bench there appeared a more fundamental problem.

“In the first half we played a lot of ball in difficult conditions,” said O’Gara.

“With the talent we have sometimes we want to play ball all the time. We do have such good players in the backline.

“But in such wintry conditions like yesterday I think that sometimes you’re better off without the ball.

“It’s bitterly disappointing to lose. It was a strange game. It felt like it was there to be won but we didn’t win.”

That Ireland finished within two points of South Africa was down to O’Gara, who set up tries for Tommy Bowe and Rob Kearney upon his late arrival.

Presented with a near-touchline conversion of Kearney’s try to draw, the year-old instead struck the right post and the Springboks expertly strangled the life out of the game in the last five minutes.

It was not quite the scripted ending to becoming Ireland’s third Test centurion – all three have reached the milestone this year – but it nevertheless remained a special moment for O’Gara.

“I’m very proud to have won 100 caps. It’s great to have followed Brian O’Driscoll and John Hayes into the history books. They’re two good friends and great players,” he said.

“I’m delighted to achieve it. It was a big day for my family and for Munster too.

“It’s a good achievement to reach 100 caps because very few players have done it. I’m very lucky.

“I enjoyed having an impact but it’s just a pity it didn’t change the outcome because I play sport to win.”

Head coach Declan Kidney looked a little shellshocked at times in response launching the four-Test autumn schedule with a dispiriting defeat.

Apart from seeing Ireland’s losing sequence extended yet further, the performance continued the decline that began during this year’s Six Nations.

Samoa, next Saturday’s visitors to Aviva Stadium, has become a must-win match and the scope for Kidney to make changes is minimal – a dangerous position to hold with New Zealand and Argentina also to come.

There will be a clamour for O’Gara to start in tandem with Munster colleague Peter Stringer after Leinster pairing Jonathan Sexton and Eoin Reddan struggled behind a backpedalling pack.

Twelve games remain until next year’s World Cup and as O’Gara hinted, these are worrying times with the downturn no longer confined to the economy.

“The better team won. We’re disappointed – we can’t be losing games like that at home if we want to be credible,” he said.

“We need to look at ourselves and there’s an important two weeks coming up. We must regroup.

“Five defeats is very disappointing so we need to get a result against Samoa.”

Prop Tony Buckley and full-back Rob Kearney sustained hip and knee injuries and a clearer picture of their fitness is expected tomorrow.

Hooker Damien Varley has been added to the squad.

After a seven year construction, the new Lansdowne Road stadium hosted its first football match last night (Wednesday) with a Manchester United goal-fest.

Even though the sparking new stadium had officially opened with an under 20 interprovincial rugby clash days earlier, the arrival of the world’s most famous football club out put the venue on the map.

The Red Devils came to Dublin with a full strength line up and proved way too strong for a League Of Ireland XI by seven goals to one.

The new stadium also scored with fans who hailed its clear sight lines and state of the art facilities.

Former Ireland and Manchester United legend Paul McGrath was mobbed by fans as he entered the ground.

“It’s an unbelievable stadium,” he said reflecting a sentiment shared by many . “I just wish it had been around when I was playing. The players will love playing here.”

In front of 49,861, Man U’s Mexican recruit Javier Hernandez scored with his first touch to launch a second-half rout of the best Ireland’s domestic campaign can muster, his third in as many games – one of which was against his new club – that offer huge promise for the 22-year-old nicknamed “Little Pea”.

Michael Owen also found the net on his first appearance of pre-season but there was nothing for Wayne Rooney during a typically industrious 45-minute display.

Aside from the minor inconvenience of Rooney’s blank, the major piece of bad news for United on a night when they were hardly asked to do any defending was the loss of Michael Carrick, who limped off midway through the opening period of his first game since a World Cup campaign he watched exclusively from England’s substitutes’ bench.

Funnily enough, on the day the anti-Glazer Manchester United Supporters Trust announced the launch of a widespread poster campaign ahead of the new season, there was little Green and Gold in evidence at a ground where green is definitely the colour.

There was plenty of red though as the Irish supporters showed which English team remain the club of choice on the Emerald Isle, and plenty of sympathy for Rooney too as he kept himself busy on his return to action after that sorry World Cup and those fairly damning pictures.

Rooney should have found the net before the break. Instead, he dragged one effort wide from an acute angle before blazing a better chance over when he latched onto the rebound from Darron Gibson’s shot.

A goal would have done wonders for Rooney’s confidence after such a depressing summer. Now he will have to wait for Sunday’s Community Shield encounter with Premier League champions Chelsea at Wembley.

For United, it hardly mattered.

The standard of their opponents could be measured by six representatives from a Bohemians side surprisingly beaten by Welsh outfit Total Network Solutions in the second qualifying round of the Champions League in Damien Richardson’s starting line-up.

United’s opener arrived in suitably farcical manner when Gavin Peers cut out a Park Ji-sung cross bound for Rooney at the far post then got himself in a complete mess as he decided what to do next.

By the time Peers made his mind up, Park had closed in. The South Korean stuck out a leg to block the attempted clearance and the rebound looped in.

There was a touch of class about Owen’s effort though as he tried to nick the ball away from Ken Oman inside the hosts’ box, then calmly lobbed into the net when he was presented with a second chance thanks to a kind flick off the defender.

The interval exit of Rooney and Owen offered a chance to Dimitar Berbatov, the record signing with so much to prove, and Hernandez.

A total unknown outside his homeland when he signed for United at the back end of last season, Hernandez gave fleeting glimpses of his talent during Mexico’s run to the last 16 of the World Cup before scoring twice in as many appearances on the Red Devils’ recent North America tour, including one against his new club for Chivas as he made his farewell appearance.

It took him less than 100 seconds to extend his 100% record as he latched onto Antonio Valencia’s low cross and drilled home his side’s third, the reception both before and after highlighting the impact Hernandez has already had for the Red Devils.

Resistance was ended by Valencia just before the hour, with Park, Jonny Evans and a Nani penalty adding further efforts, although St Patricks’ Dave Mulcahy probably enjoyed the greatest moment of his career when he drilled home the hosts’ consolation.