Toulon are set to face Clermont in the final of the inaugural European Rugby Champions Cup. The ERCC is the revamped Heineken Cup.
The match takes place this Saturday, at 5pm at Twickenham Stadium, in London.
Clermont beat Saracens in the first semi-final, 13-9. A closely fought contest, the game was not a great spectacle, mainly one of attrition. The only try came from Wesley Fofana.
Toulon beat Leinster, 25-20 in extra-time, in the second semi-final. Toulon seemed unprepared for the onslaught of an un-fancied Leinster side. It was only until into extra time that Toulon managed to get a grip on the game.
Here are some facts you should know before the final.
1. Toulon are appearing in their third consecutive European rugby final (if you include the Heineken Cup). Toulon are also looking to make history in being the first European club team to win three titles in a row.
The only other team to do this in the world is the Crusaders, when they won three consecutive Super Rugby titles from 1998-2000.
2. Toulon will face Clermont in an all-French cup final. This is the fifth time that two French teams have contested the European Rugby final. The last time was in 2013, with both teams featuring.
Toulon won, beating Clermont, 16-15. This would prove to be the closest score in a Heineken Cup final.
3. Attendance is looking to be rather poor for the game, with just over 40,000 tickets set to be sold (Twickenham holds more than double that number, 83,000 is the capacity).
It will be the worst attendance for a final since Toulouse faced Perpignan in 2003, with 28,600 attending in Landsdowne Road (half that venues capacity). A reason for the low attendance could be the early date of the final, with the Aviva Premiership, Top14 and Guinness Pro12 still on-going).
The ERCC organisers have claimed that they aim to have next year’s tournament finishing on a later date.
4. This will be the second of three times this year that the two teams will meet. In November, Toulon beat Clermont, 27-19, in the French Top14. The teams will face off again, in late-May.
Toulon are currently top of the Top14 table, with Clermont at second. Both teams are coming off shock defeats in the Top14, with Clermont’s the heavier of the two they lost 31-10 to Castres, who are currently 12th in the Top14 table.
5. There will be a number of great players, from all around the world, featuring in the final on Saturday. As many as 11 different countries will be represented.
Though they will be without England star, Delon Armitage, Toulon still have a formidable back-line, featuring Leigh Halfpenny, Bryan Habana, Mathieu Bastareaud, Matt Giteau, Chris Michalak and Sébastien Toulos-Borde. The last four featured in the final two years ago.
While Toulon are without Jonny Wilkinson (at least on the field, he’s one of the coaches), Halfpenny is a formidable kicker and Michalak still has a lot to offer.
Toulon also have a very strong pack, including Steffon Armitage (who’s been short-listed for the European Player of the Year Award). Armitage will be looking to impress English coach, Stuart Lancaster ahead of this year’s World Cup. Lancaster has imposed a ban of using players who ply their trade outside England but both Armitage brothers have been playing too well to be ignored.
Clermont also have a number of stars. Fullback Nick Abendanon will also be looking to impress the England selectors. He should have a great battle against Halfpenny, two of the best fullbacks in the world game. Abendanon has also been short-listed for the EPOY Award, along with teammate Fritz Lee, who missed the semi-final due to a hamstring injury.
Clermont have a formidable back-line, and all but John Davies played in the 2013 Final, and Davies has become one of the best centres around recently. The centre battle on Saturday should be one for the ages!
In the forwards, Clermont can match Toulon with plenty of their big man having appeared in the 2013 final. Though they lost that day, they’re still terrific players.
Toulon will be favourites going into the match. This is only the second time that Clermont have reached the final and they lost the last time, to Toulon. Will Clermont’s hunger for a first European rugby title overcome Toulon’s strive to make history?
This is the final of the first-ever ERCC tournament. There was talk of the ERCC being a more-exciting, closely contested Heineken – a more improved European Rugby tournament.
It’s debatable whether the tournament has achieved and delivered that level of excitement in its first year (probably too early to judge) but it looks set to be a great final in any case.
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