Can Toulon and Clermont give us something to rival this lot?
The first ever European Champions Cup final takes place this weekend, as French giants Clermont and Toulon do battle in a repeat of the 2013 Heineken Cup decider.
The all-French affairs have never been games for the ages, but in the 19 previous European finals we’ve seen some incredible scores, inspiring victories and emotional celebrations.
We’ve delved through the archives of European rugby to pick out our top 10 moments from the 19 annual showpieces.
10. Toulouse win their fourth title in 2010
This Saturday will see the fifth all-French final in the history of the Henieken/Champions Cup, and none of the previous four will go down as classics. But in 2010 Toulouse beat Biarritz by two points to clinch their fourth title in just 15 seasons, a record which still stands. With that year’s final played in Paris, it meant a packed crowd in Stade de France, just shy of 80,000.
9. Sebastien Viars sensational try in 1997
There were the days of muddy pitches, Leicester’s ABC club and Bill McLaren on the commentary.
In the 1997 final Brive took out Leicester 28-9 with some stunning traditional French rugby. The pick of the scores came from winger Sebastien Viars just four minutes in, and it’s one of the best scores we’ve seen in a European final.
‘The Compass’, as he was known, navigated past (see what I did there?) Austin Healey, and floored John Liley with a hand off, gassing home from the half way line. Brive ran riot in the second half, scoring three more tries to lift the trophy, which they’d give up in the final 12 months later.
8. Sexton’s drop goal from downtown in 09
“Doooooowntown, things will be great when you’re doooooowntown…”
After a few near misses, Leinster lifted the first of what would be three Heineken Cups in four seasons when they beat Leicester 19-16 at Murrayfield.
Johnny Sexton’s “how do you like me now?” pose over Ronan O’Gara in the semi-final is arguably the most iconic moment from their march to the title that year, but his bomb of a drop-goal in the early stages of the final showed just how mentally strong the young out-half was at the time. With just three points in the difference at the end, Sexton’s quick thinking had a massive bearing on the game.
7. Jonny Wilkinson signs off in style
While the neutral won’t often root for moneybags Toulon, you were hard-pressed to find a rugby fan who didn’t want them to beat Saracens in the decider 12 months ago. While his ultimate swansong came a week later in the final of the Top 14, his last ever game on British soil was always going to be a huge occasion.
The legendary outhalf barely broke sweat as he kicked a perfect five out of five, finishing with 13 points as Toulon recorded back-to-back titles. He was the last captain to lift the old Heineken Cup, a fitting send off for both he and the trophy.
6. Munster beaten, but not defeated
The 2000 Heineken Cup final is the one Munster really left behind them. They lost by one point, 9-8, with a young Ronan O’Gara missing four kicks from four, including one just a minute from time.
However, with a breakthrough season for the province ending in a sour note, the sound of “The Fields of Athenry” being belted out at Twickenham as the players huddled in the centre of the pitch is a wonderfully emotional moment, with several of the side saying it was the moment they knew their European journey was just beginning. (If video doesn’t play, click to 2:28:20)
5. Ulster laying down a mark in ’99
It wasn’t captured on camera, but the old tale from that afternoon at Lansdowne Road is that Ulster had the beating of Colomiers during the warm-up. As they usually did, the side ran a lap around the touchline before going back into the changing rooms to whip the crowd up a bit and create an atmosphere.
But with adrenaline pumping and the aggression building, the Ulster players ran straight through the Colomiers group as they were doing their warm-up, and it’s often said that it left the French side rattled.
4. The Hand of Back
There won’t be too many people offering to buy Neil Back a pint in Limerick, but any Munster player who’s spoken about that incident say he’d have been a hero if he’d been wearing red.
With Munster behind by six and only a few seconds left, they had one final chance to nab a try with a scrum five metres out. As Peter Stringer prepared to feed the scrum, Neil Back flicked the ball out of his hands and into the Leicester side. With referee Joel Jutge on the opposite side of the scrum, he was obviously none the wiser, and he blew for full time less than a minute later to consign Munster to a second agonising final defeat in three years.
3. Stringer fooling them all in 2006
2000 and 2002 are what made 2006 so special. The near misses of the previous six years had built up a well of emotion, and when Sireli Bobo ran in for an early try despite putting a foot in touch, it seemed like a case of here we go again for Munster.
Trevor Halstead got them back in it with a try of his own, but Peter Stringer’s quick thinking at the base of a scrum ten metres out sent the Millenium Stadium and the streets of Limerick into raptures.
You could fill a list with the amount of iconic moments from the 2006 final, but Stringer’s try is still the one that gives Munster fans shivers down their spines.
2. The greatest comeback of all
As a Limerick man, I may not be able to show my face at home for placing this higher than 2006, but Leinster’s comeback in the 2011 final against Northampton was one of the most staggering sporting comebacks I’ve ever witnessed.
For the first 40 minutes it looked like they were choking in the muggy air of the Millennium Stadium, but the performance in the 25 minutes after the break was some of the most brutal, savage and explosive rugby in the competition’s history.
While 16 points isn’t the most enormous deficit the could have faced, the sheer ferocity of their second half performance was something incredibly special.
Inspired by Johnny Sexton who crashed over for two tries and two penalties just after half time to put Leinster in front, they then ran in another through Nathan Hines to seal a second Heineken Cup for Leinster, and a first for Joe Schmidt.
1. Wasps win in the most bizarre circumstances
The most dramatic conclusion to a rugby match we’ll probably ever see.
Two minutes left in the final. Scores level. Toulouse kick the ball down the throat of Wasps, and with nowhere to go, Rob Howley stubs a speculative grubber down the touchline. Toulouse have tonnes of cover as it dribbles to the feet of Clement Poitrenaud, who seems remarkably laissez faire for the dying minutes of a Heineken Cup final.
Poitrenaud tries to leave it either run over the tryline or out into touch, all the while Howley is charging down the touchline. Poitrenaud realises his mistake too late, as Howley dives dramatically on the ball just before the Frenchman gets his hands to it. Mark Van Gisbergen converted, but the damage was done by the Welshman.
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