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.
Rugby Fan
Roar Guru
Drew Mitchell scored a wonderful try to seal the win for Toulon. Brock James had to pull out before the game started, so wasn't a factor. Matt Giteau had a reasonable game.
Bakkies
Guest
The LNR wanted it earlier but the Top 14 Final is not till the middle of June. The Pound crushing the Euro isn't helping people with their travelling arrangements and a lot of people are saving for the exorbitant RWC tickets. There was only a two turn around between the QF and Semi which would have affected Leinster supporters travelling to Marseille. Flights to Marseille from Dublin aren't frequent so you need to arrange cars/train tickets from other parts of France. The other semi in St Ettiene was literally 98% Clermont support. Saracens returned 2,000 of their allocated tickets. Clermont - Toulon got 50,000 in Dublin and the all French Final in Edinburgh 55,000. Smaller stadiums but the turn out in London in particular to European knockouts has been poor. The Clermont- Saracens semi at Twickenham had a woeful attendance. The ERC during the fiasco that was RRW/PRL/BT led awarded the Heineken Cup Final to Milan. If Marseille hosted a Final which may occur soon the Amlin Final should go to Felix Mayol. Holds the same as the RDS, Stoop, etc who have hosted previous Finals. The Final gets announced early a year in advance as shown with the semis it's too short notice to be arranging flights, tickets especially when fans travel in pairs or groups. It also helps with ticket allocation and fans on selling their tickets to supporters of teams in the Final. The split rights between BT and Sky has also been a disaster for viewers. There has been less intensity and hype driven by Sky this season.
Bakkies
Guest
Pathetic organising and too close to the semis.
DECLAN MURPHY
Roar Guru
BEIN Sports will be showing the match in Australia, at 2am on Sunday, May 3rd http://www.beinsports.com.au/our-sports/rugby/
Stanley Rush
Guest
Is the game being televised in Australia?
Comrade Bear
Roar Rookie
Top review thanks mate!
Lion Down Under
Guest
Yeah, tried to emulate association football and hold it in a large, neutral stadium. They also decided that the host city must have 1 x large stadium and 1 x 20000 seat stadium so that the European Challenge Cup (2nd tier European tournament) be held on the same weekend in the same city (it will be played between Edinburgh and Gloucester tonight at The Stoop, Harlequins home ground in Twickenham). This drastically cuts down the number of cities that can bid - it would rule out both Lyon and Marseille (unless they accepted the 17000 football stadium in Fos-Sur-Mer as nearly big enough and close enough to Marseille). I think they overestimated how far non-Irish rugby fans will travel for European games. In addition the whole European Cup planning was massively rushed this year due to legal challenges and opposition by the WRU and IRFU right up to the last minute. It should improve. Also in the next few years as the season's inconsistencies get ironed out the European Cup finals should be the end of the season, not squeezed in before the end of the domestic leagues. Whilst it is too early to judge whether the European Cup being harder to qualify for than the Heineken Cup has improved rugby in the tournament it is already obvious that it has increased the competitiveness of the AP, Top 14 and, most especially, the Pro 12 as teams fight hard to qualify, needing to manage their squads better and take the leagues more seriously rather than concentrating on European games.
JimmyB
Guest
Chris is the DJ/ music producer.
nickoldschool
Roar Guru
As far as I know, that was decided last year or at the beginning of the season Mike, like football does with the UCL. They pick a neutral venue for finals.
Mike
Guest
NOS, why are they holding it in London?
nickoldschool
Roar Guru
"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". Declan, I think its mostly due to the fact the final is played on foreign ground for the 2 French clubs. Not a coincidence that the Toulouse v Perpignan one you also mentioned had a poor crowd 10 years ago. And rugby isn't football, those 4 cities (big towns) have good support at home or in their region but the supporters aren't used to traveling overseas, not in the same way football fans do (or Irish rugby supporters). I know its hard to organise a final close to the 2 finalists but a Toulon v Clermont in London does sound silly while you know you would have had 65000 at the new Marseille stadium or 40k in Lyon or St Etienne which are convenient for both sets of supporters. I read free tix were given to English supporters which enraged French supporters who decided not to do the trip. It doesn't look good. I often feel that the European comps are better organised (pyramidal structure, P/R, domestic comps then euro) that the SR and its non relevance, conferences etc but I have to say when it comes to the final, perhaps the southerners have it right with playing the final at the n1 finalist ground. It ensures a pretty decent crowd. A Bayern v Barca at Wembley or Milan will get a full house, not a Toulon v Clermont. Maybe we try too much to emulate what football does, i.e. the pools, final on neutral ground etc. Rugby isn't football and the supporters aren't the same. Bakkies v Cudmore for me.
DECLAN MURPHY
Roar Guru
Thanks for spotting that. I don't know where I got 'Chris' Michalak from?! I of course meant Freddie!
Stonetrain
Guest
I think the reason for the lower crowd is all the expats in London will be attending Twickenham the day after to watch Maidstone win the Intermediate Cup. They have more foreigners then Toulon!
RedsKing
Guest
Who is Chris Michalak and what has he done with Freddie? Toulon will win as long as Ali Williams is on the field for less than 5 minutes, what a penalty machine.