Pitch perfect: Lansdowne Road is due to open in May

While Ireland took on Italy in the Six Nations at Croke Park yesterday, across the river Liffey hundreds of workers were busily preparing Lansdowne Road for its much anticipated opening in May.

Arching high and wide over the redbrick facades of Ballsbridge's opulent homes, the emerging stadium redevelopment is difficult to miss.

The spacecraft-like roof is rapidly nearing completion and soon this hallowed turf will reopen to the spectacle of an all-province rugby spectacular. Ireland's €400m home to rugby and soccer is nearly there.

Almost as striking as the twisting white structure is the fact that the new Aviva Stadium has come in on budget and on time.

Naturally, the final stages of this mammoth construction project – which began in 2007 – will be the laying of the sacred soil, the pitch on which future battles will be lost and won.

That central part of the ground is currently home to diggers and cranes, piping and cement blocks but as they trickle out for good, they will be replaced by a seed-sewn pitch, the final stage of a six-year project.

"A lot of pitches these days, like Croke Park or Old Trafford, they just roll them out but this one will have grass seeds sewn into the pitch," said a spokesman.

"The roof is coming toward completion but it's not there yet.

"It's going to be handed over on 30 April and then there is an official opening in mid-May, although without a game."

In fact, the first match will be played three months later on 7 August, when the four Irish rugby provinces lock horns – Leinster and Ulster take on Munster and Connacht – to launch a new era for the sport in its old home since 1878.

Football will follow when Ireland take on Argentina a few days later.

The Lansdowne Road Stadium Development Company (LRSDC), a joint venture between the IRFU and the FAI, has prided itself on the green approach to the new structure, and not in the nationalistic sense.

Large roof tanks will recycle rain water around the stadium and eco-friendly cement has been used to lessen the development's carbon footprint.