Heineken Cup – It’s Judgement Day!

Saturday, May 24. Judgement day for two of the genuine giants of European club rugby as Munster and Toulouse collide in a sold-out Heineken Cup final at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff (kick-off 5pm).

2007/08 HEINEKEN CUP FINAL: Saturday, May 24

MUNSTER v TOULOUSE, Millennium Stadium, 5pm (live Sky Sports 3/highlights RTE Two)

Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
Touch Judges: Nigel Whitehouse, Hugh Watkins (both Wales)
Fourth official/reserve referee: Wayne Barnes (England)
TMO: Derek Bevan (Wales)
Citing Commissioner: Peter Larter (England)

The teams currently ranked number 1 and No 2 under the merit-based ERC European Ranking system – just one point separates Munster (29 points) and Toulouse (28 points) – are also the teams who have played the most Heineken Cup matches.

Again, it could hardly be tighter, with just one match in it with Toulouse having played 93 tournament matches to Munster’s 92 and both teams have now qualified for the knock-out stages a record 10 times in the 13 seasons of the Heineken Cup – Munster notching up their perfect 10 in successive campaigns.

It also means that there will be no new name on European club rugby’s most coveted silverware, Toulouse having lifted the trophy a record three times (1996, 2003 and 2005) and Munster were crowned the champions of Europe in 2006.

Both the last two Heineken Cup finals have been sell-outs – 74,534 at the Millennium Stadium in 2006 and a world record crowd for a club rugby match of 81,076 at Twickenham 12 months ago – with Saturday’s crowd meaning over 230,000 fans will have been at the three finals.

Munster had a free weekend but Toulouse go into the final on a winning note after beating Montauban 28-6 with Yannick Jauzion and Cedric Heymans amongst their try scorers in a victory that confirmed their place in the Top 14 semi-finals.

TALE OF THE TAPE –

MUNSTER –

ERC European Ranking: 1
ERC European Ranking Points: 29
Heineken Cup Titles: 1
Heineken Cup Finals: 3
Heineken Cup Matches: 92
Heineken Cup Wins: 64
Heineken Cup Points: 2,332
Heineken Cup Tries: 239
Heineken Cup Head-To-Head Wins: 1
Heineken Cup Knock-Out Stages: 10
International Players In Current Squad: 20

TOULOUSE –

ERC European Ranking: 2
ERC European Ranking Points: 28
Heineken Cup Titles: 3
Heineken Cup Finals: 4
Heineken Cup Matches: 93
Heineken Cup Wins: 66
Heineken Cup Points: 2,780
Heineken Cup Tries: 308
Heineken Cup Head-To-Head Wins: 2
Heineken Cup Knock-Out Stages: 10
International Players In Current Squad: 25