European Club Rugby culminates tomorrow when Munster (Ireland) play against Biarritz (France) in the Heineken Cup Final.


The game will be played on God's Own Earth - at The Millenium Stadium in Cardiff.


The match is due to kick off at 3pm (10am Bahamas time).


If you want to see the game, you have 4 options:


1. Fly to Cardiff (you'd better leave now)


2. If You have Setanta at home, you're straight.


3. You can come down to the Clubhouse in Shirley Street Plaza (coverage starts at 9.30am)


4. You can follow it on BBC Sports (Click here) - Audio only.


A group of us will be going to the clubhouse to watch the match, then up to Winton for the National 7s (2pm) - should be a good day's rugby.

Heineken Cup Final Preview




Jacques Delmas and Declan Kidney have announced their starting line-ups for the 11th Heineken Cup final...
Anthony Foley will lead out Munster as he makes his 76th European appearance. He is supported in the back row by Denis Leamy and David Wallace.


They will come up against arguably the strongest back-row in World rugby. The trio of Serge Betson, Imanol Harinoriquey and Thomas Lievermont have a wealth of European and international experience behind them, and are sure to be up for the battle.

Follow up:


“We are all very excited about playing the final of this great competition,” said Lievremont.
“Munster are an exceptional side with power both in the scrum and behind. We will have to work very hard if we are to overcome such a powerful team.”




Biarritz are at full strength in the backs, in contrast, Munster were unable to call upon former All Black legend Christian Cullen. However Sean Payne makes an admirable replacement, and he will start at full back.


The Venue
The decision to play the match with the roof open or closed will be taken tomorrow, and is weather dependent.

ERC chief executive Derek McGrath will consult with the two coaches and Millennium Stadium chief executive Paul Sergeant on Saturday morning.

Team Line ups



Biarritz Olympique V Munster


Nicolas Brusque
15 Shaun Payne


Jean-Baptiste Gobelet
14 Anthony Horgan


Philippe Bidabe
13 John Kelly


Damien Traille
12 Trevor Halstead


Sereli Bobo
11 Ian Dowling


Julien Peyrelongue
10 Ronan O'Gara


Dimitri Yachvili
9 Peter Stringer


Petru Vladimir Balan
1 Marcus Horan


Benoit August
2 Jerry Flannery


Census Johnson
3 John Hayes


Jerome Thion
4 Donnacha O'Callaghan


David Couzinet
5 Paul O'Connell


Serge Betsen
6 Denis Leamy


Imanol Harinordoquy
7 David Wallace


Thomas Lievremont (capt)
8 Anthony Foley (capt)


-
Subs -


Benjamin Noirot
16 Denis Fogarty


Benoit Lecouls
17 Fredericio Pucciariello


Olivier Olibeau
18 Mick O'Driscoll


Thierry Dusautoir
19 Alan Quinlan


Manuel Carizza
20 Tomas O'Leary


Julien Dupuy
21 Jeremy Manning


Frederico Martin Arramburu
22 Rob Henderson




The 11th Heineken Cup final between Irish provincial side Munster and the current French champions Biarritz Olympique Pays Basque is an intriguing contest between two teams that both believe their time for Heineken Cup success has come.
Munster have played 76 Heineken Cup matches during their eleven seasons in Europe’s top rugby competition, and are contesting their third final.

They suffered a 9-8 defeat to Northampton Saints in 2000 at Twickenham, and were defeated 15-9 by Leicester Tigers in 2002 at the Millennium Stadium.


Biarritz are in their first Heineken Cup final after making it “third time lucky” at the semi-final stage.
Losses to Toulouse (2004) and Stade Francais (2005) left Patrice Lasiquet’s side desperate for success against Bath in the semi-final earlier this month.

A hard fought 18-9 victory sent them to Cardiff and a date with Munster.


Source: ERC Rugby


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