Heineken Cup Finals down the years
Wed, 21 May 2008 11:27
It's Heineken Final time - Munster of Ireland against Toulouse of France in Cardiff's Millennium Stadium, an event that the rugby world will watch with interest.
Last year the final was at Twickenham on a Sunday and the place was packed for an all-English final in which London Wasps denied Leicester Tigers a hat-trick of successes.
This year's final is at the grand Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. Toulouse and Munster have both won the championship before - Toulouse three times, Munster once.
The European Cup is really a new competition, starting in 1995 with its first final in 1996, the same year as the first Super 12 final. This is just the 13th final.
European Cup? The sponsors have really taken over the name. It's the Heineken Cup now.
It started quietly in 1995 with a match in Constanta, Romania, on 31 October when Toulouse beat Farul Constanta 54-10. England and Scotland did not take part. Some teams that were there are no longer involved in 2008 - Milan of Italy, Farul Constanta of Romania, Bègles-Bordeaux, Castres and the Welsh clubs Cardiff, Pontypridd, and Swansea who are now parts of regions. Bordeaux-Bègles are now a club in France's Pro D2, the second league of professional rugby in France.
There were 12 sides in all, divided into four pools of three teams each - Toulouse, Benetton Treviso and Farul Constanta; Cardiff, Bègles-Bordeaux and Ulster; Leinster, Pontypridd and Milan; Swansea, Munster and Castres.
Cardiff beat Leinster in the one semifinal and Toulouse smashed Swansea in the other.
Toulouse played Cardiff in the Final in Cardiff that year before a crowd of 22 000 and Dave McHugh of Ireland to see to compliance with the Laws of the Game.
Thomas Castaignède was at his brilliant best, scoring a try and a dropped goal and making a try for Jérôme Cazalbou as Toulouse raced ahead with two tries in just over five minutes. They led 12-0, before Cardiff came bouncing back till at the final whistle the score was 15-all.
Like the World Cup Final of the year before the match went into extra time. Christophe Deylaud kicked a penalty and Adrian Davies kicked a penalty, and it was 18-all. Then in the last minute of extra time Deylaud kicked the penalty goal that won the match.
The 2002 Final may well be best remembered for the Hand of Back, when Neil back scooped the ball out of Peter Stringer's hand at a vital scrum near the end of the match.
The 2004 Final may just be the most dramatic with a winning score that was bizarre. The scores were 20-all when, with some three minutes to play, Rob Howley of Wasps kicked a grubber down the touch-line, a nothing of a kick it seemed. But, in the tournament's greatest boob so far, Clément Poitrenaud waited for the ball to bounce into in-goal when Howley, straining, poached the ball from under his nose to score the try that won the match.
The tenth Final, in 2005, was the second to go into extra time. It was a completely try-less Final. In the first half David Skrela kicked four penalties for Stade Français, Jean-Baptist Elissalde two for Toulouse. 12-6 at half-time.
In the second half Elissalde made it 12-9, which was the score with three minutes left. Chris White, who also refereed the 2006 Final, penalised Stade Français and Frédéric Michalak goaled. 12-all and extra time.
Michalak goaled first in extra time, and then, for the first time in the match. Skrela missed. Finally, from a long way out, Michalak kicked a dropped goal and Toulouse became the first team to win the Heineken three times.
Heineken Cup Finals
1996: Toulouse vs Cardiff at Cardiff Arms Park, 21-18
1997: Brive vs Leicester Tigers at Cardiff Arms Park, 28-9
1998: Bath vs Brive at Stade Lescure in Bordeaux, 19-18
1999: Ulster vs Colomiers at
Lansdowne Road, 21-6
2000: Northampton Saints vs Munster at Twickenham, 9-8
2001: Leicester Tigers vs Stade Français at Parc des Princes, 34-30
2002: Leicester Tigers vs Munster at Millennium Stadium, 15-9
2003: Toulouse vs Perpignan at Lansdowne Road, 22-17
2004: London Wasps vs Toulouse at Twickenham, 27-20
2005: Toulouse vs Stade Français at Murrayfield, 18-12
2006: Munster vs Biarritz at Millennium Stadium, 23-19
2007: London Wasps vs Leicester Tigers at Twickenham, 25-9
The teams in the 2007 Final:
Leicester Tigers: 15 Geordan Murphy, 14 Seru Rabeni, 13 Danny Hipkiss, 12 Daryl Gibson, 11 Alesana Tuilagi, 10 Andy Goode, 9 Frank Murphy , 8 Martin Corry (captain), 7 Shane Jennings, 6 Lewis Moody, 5 Ben Kay, 4 Louis Deacon, 3 Julian White, 2 George Chuter, 1 Marcos Ayerza.
Replacements: 16 James Buckland, 17 Alex Moreno, 18 Leo Cullen, 19 Brett Deacon, 20 Ian
Humphreys, 21 Sam Vesty, 22 Ollie Smith.
London Wasps: 15 Danny Cipriani, 14 Paul Sackey, 13 Fraser Waters, 12 Josh Lewsey, 11 Tom Voyce, 10 Alex King, 9 Eoin Reddan, 8 Lawrence Dallaglio (captain), 7 Tom Rees, 6 Joe Worsley, 5 Tom Palmer, 4 Simon Shaw, 3 Peter Bracken, 2 Raphaël Ibañez, 1 Phil Vickery.
Replacements: 16 Joe Ward, 17 Tom French, 18 Dan Leo, 19 James Haskell, 20 Mark McMillan, 21 Dominic Waldouck, 22 Mark van Gisbergen.
The last Toulouse team to win the Heineken Cup: Clément Poitrenaud, Vincent Clerc, Yannick Jauzion, Florian Fritz, Gareth Thomas, Frédéric Michalak, Jean-Baptiste Elissalde, Christian Labit, Finau Maka, Trevor Brennan, Romain Millo-Chlusky, Fabien Pelous, Omar Hasan, William Servat, Jean-Baptiste Poux
Replacements: Yannick Bru, Daan Human, Jean Bouilhou, Isitolo Maka, Jean-Frédéric Dubois, David Gerard, Cédric
Heymans.
The last Munster team to win the Heineken Cup: 15 Shaun Payne, 14 Anthony Horgan, 13 John Kelly, 12 Trevor Halstead, 11 Ian Dowling, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 9 Peter Stringer, 8 Anthony Foley (captain), 7 David Wallace, 6 Denis Leamy, 5 Paul O'Connell, 4 Donncha O'Callaghan, 3 John Hayes, 2 Jerry Flannery, 1 Marcus Horan
Replacements: 16 Denis Fogarty, 17 Federico Pucciariello, 18 Mick O'Driscoll, 19 Alan Quinlan, 20 Tomas O'Leary, 21 Jeremy Manning, 22 Rob Henderson
There have been 12 Finals.
There have been two finals without a French team and two finals when both sides were French. Irish teams have reached the final four times - Ulster once and Munster three times.
Winners by club
3: Toulouse
2: Leicester Tigers, London Wasps
1: Brive, Bath, Ulster, Northampton Saints, Munster
Brive played in Pro D2 for a while and Northampton played National League 1 this season. Beaten finalists Colomiers were relegated from Pro D2 to Fédérale 1 in "amateur" rugby.
Heineken Cup Final Winners
1996: Toulouse
1997: Brive
1998: Baths
1999: Ulster
2000: Northampton Saints
2001: Leicester Tigers
2002: Leicester Tigers
2003: Toulouse
2004: London Wasps
2005: Toulouse
2006: Munster
2007: London Wasps
Finalists by nationality are:
England: 8
Scotland: 0
Ireland: 4
Wales: 1
France: 11
Final referees:
1996: Dave McHugh
1997: Derek Bevan
1998: Jim Fleming
1999: Clayton Thomas
2000: Joël Dumé
2001: Dave McHugh
2002: Joël Jutge
2003: Chris White, replaced by Tony Spreadbury
2004: Alain Rolland
2005: Chris White
2006: Chris White
2007: Alan Lewis
2008: Nigel
Owens
Spectators at Finals
1996: 21 800 at Cardiff Arms Park
1997: 41 664 at Cardiff Arms Park
1998: 36 500 at Stade Lescure Bordeaux
1999: 49 000 at Lansdowne Road
2000: 68 441 at Twickenham
2001: 44 000 at Parc des Princes
2002: 74 000 at Millennium Stadium
2003: 28 600 at Lansdowne Road
2004: 73 057 at Twickenham
2005: 51 326 at Murrayfield
2006: 74 534 at Millennium Stadium
2007: 81 076 at Twickenham
