2016 European Rugby Champions Cup Final

2016 European Rugby Champions Cup Final
Event 2015–16 European Rugby Champions Cup
Racing 92 Saracens
France England
9 21
Date 14 May 2016
Venue Grand Stade de Lyon, Lyon
Man of the Match Maro Itoje
Referee Nigel Owens (WRU)
Attendance 58,017

The 2016 European Rugby Champions Cup Final was the final match in the 2015–16 European Rugby Champions Cup, and the twenty-first European club rugby final in general. It was contested by French side Racing 92, and Saracens of England, at the Grand Stade de Lyon, in the Lyon suburb of Décines, France, on Saturday 14 May 2016.

Saracens defeated Racing 92 by 21 points to 9. This was Saracens first European Cup win, making them the first new champions since Toulon, whose first victory in what was then known as the Heineken Cup came in 2013.[1]

Background

Prior to the draw for the 2015–16 tournament, it was announced that Lyon would host the 2015–16 European Rugby Challenge Cup and Champions Cup finals at the newly built Grand Stade de Lyon, while the 2017 finals would be held at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh, Scotland.[2] Two weeks before the match, Nigel Owens was chosen to referee the final.[3] This was Racing's first European Cup final, while Saracens were previously defeated by Toulon in the 2014 Heineken Cup Final.[4][5] The two teams last met in the tournament the previous season, Saracens having defeated Racing at the quarter-final stage with a last-minute penalty kick.[6]

Route to the final

Note: In all results below, the score of the finalist is given first (H: home; A: away).

France Racing 92 Round England Saracens
Opponent Result Pool stage Opponent Result
Scotland Glasgow Warriors[lower-alpha 1] 34–10 (H) Matchday 1 France Toulouse 32–7 (H)
Wales Scarlets 29–12 (A) Matchday 2 Ireland Ulster 27–9 (A)
England Northampton Saints 33–3 (H) Matchday 3 France Oyonnax 45–10 (A)
England Northampton Saints 9–9 (A) Matchday 4 France Oyonnax 55–13 (H)
Wales Scarlets 64–14 (H) Matchday 5 Ireland Ulster 33–17 (H)
Scotland Glasgow Warriors 5–22 (A) Matchday 6 France Toulouse 28–17 (A)
Pool 3 winner
Team
 P Pts
France Racing 92 622
England Northampton Saints 619
Scotland Glasgow Warriors 614
Wales Scarlets 62
 Final standings Pool 1 winner
Team
 P Pts
England Saracens 628
Ireland Ulster 618
France Oyonnax 67
France Toulouse 65
Opponent Result Knock-out stage Opponent Result
France Toulon 19–16 (H) Quarter-finals England Northampton Saints 29–20 (H)
England Leicester Tigers 19–16 (A) Semi-finals England Wasps 24–17 (H)

Racing 92

In the pool stages, fifth-seeds Racing 92 topped Pool 3, winning four of six games. Their first match with Glasgow Warriors was postponed for two months due to the November 2015 Paris attacks, but they went on to win their first two fixtures. After drawing 9-9 with Northampton Saints and winning the postponed match 34-10, Racing inflicted a heavy 64-14 away defeat on the Scarlets. Racing lost their final match 22-5 away at against the Warriors, which was relocated from Scotstoun Stadium to Rugby Park due to heavy rainfall.

On April 10 in the quarter-finals, Racing hosted Toulon at Stade Yves-du-Manoir and narrowly won by 19-16. Two weeks later, they won in the semi-finals by the same scoreline Leicester Tigers at City Ground in Nottingham, England.

Saracens

Seeded first, Saracens won Pool 1 after winning all six of their matches. In the quarter-finals, they won 29-20 against the Northampton Saints at Allianz Park on 9 April, with tries from Chris Ashton and Chris Wyles. Both were converted by Owen Farrell, who also scored all five of their penalties. Two weeks later, they won their semi-final 24-17 against Wasps at the Madejski Stadium in Reading, England.

Match

Summary

The game was played mostly during a heavy rain storm, and featured no tries. Racing 92's scrum-half Maxime Machenaud missed an early penalty kick, allowing Saracens fly-half Owen Farrell to score first, hitting a drop goal from close range to give the Saracens a 3–0 lead. After winning a scrum deep in the Saracens half, Racing's outside-centre Johan Goosen drew the score level 3–3 at 17 minutes. Machenaud was removed from play under concussion regulations on 22 minutes.[7] Farrell scored on a two successive penalties to make the score 9–3 in Saracens' favour. Just before the end of the half, Goosen and Farrell traded penalties to make the score 12–6.[8]

Racing's fly-half, Dan Carter was substituted shortly after half-time, having aggravated his leg injury.[9] Farrell scored another penalty early in the second half to extend the lead to 15–6. As Racing became more aggressive following the 60 minute mark, Goosen scored his third penalty of the game to bring the score to 15–9. Farrell would preserve the lead for Saracens, by scoring two more penalties; once in the 76th minute, and once in the 79th minute for a final score of 21–9 in favour of Saracens.[10]

Maro Itoje was named Man of The Match.[11] Saracens became the first team to win the competition by winning all their matches.[10]

Details

14 May 2016
17:45
Racing 92 France 9–21 England Saracens
Pen: Goosen (3/3) 18', 36', 58'
 Report[11] Pen: Farrell (7/7) 10', 25', 32', 39', 51', 76', 79'
Grand Stade de Lyon, Lyon
Attendance: 58,017
Referee: Nigel Owens (WRU)
FB15France Brice Dulin
RW14New Zealand Joe Rokocoko
OC13South Africa Johan Goosen
IC12France Alexandre Dumoulin 57'
LW11Argentina Juan Imhoff
FH10New Zealand Dan Carter 42'
SH9France Maxime Machenaud 22'
N88New Zealand Chris Masoe
OF7South Africa Bernard Le Roux 77'
BF6France Wenceslas Lauret
RL5South Africa François van der Merwe 66'
LL4Wales Luke Charteris
TP3New Zealand Ben Tameifuna 68'
HK2France Dimitri Szarzewski (c) 66'
LP1France Eddy Ben Arous 76'
Substitutions:
HK16France Virgile Lacombe 66'
PR17France Khatchik Vartanov 76'
PR18France Luc Ducalcon 68'
LK19Argentina Manuel Carizza 66'
N820South Africa Antonie Claassen 77'
SH21Wales Mike Phillips 22'
FH22France Rémi Tales 42'
CE23France Henry Chavancy 57'
Coach:
France Laurent Labit & Laurent Travers
FB15England Alex Goode
RW14England Chris Ashton
OC13Scotland Duncan Taylor 77'
IC12England Brad Barritt (c)
LW11United States Chris Wyles
FH10England Owen Farrell 80'
SH9England Richard Wigglesworth 80'
N88England Billy Vunipola
OF7England Will Fraser
BF6South Africa Michael Rhodes 55'
RL5England George Kruis
LL4England Maro Itoje 80'
TP3South Africa Petrus du Plessis 68'
HK2South Africa Schalk Brits 52'
LP1England Mako Vunipola 77'
Substitutions:
HK16England Jamie George 52'
PR17England Richard Barrington 77'
PR18Argentina Juan Figallo 68'
LK19Scotland Jim Hamilton 80'
FL20England Jackson Wray 55'
SH21England Ben Spencer 80'
FH22England Charlie Hodgson 80'
CE23Argentina Marcelo Bosch 77'
Coach:
Ireland Mark McCall South Africa Brendan Venter

Man of the Match:
England Maro Itoje (Saracens)

Touch judges:
Ireland George Clancy (Ireland)
Wales Leighton Hodges (Wales)
Television match official:
Ireland Simon McDowell (Ireland)

Notes

  1. ↑ Due to the terrorist attacks that took place in Paris on 13 November 2015, the Round 1 match between Racing 92 v Glasgow Warriors was postponed from 14 November 2015 to 9 January 2016.

References

  1. ↑ "Racing 9 Saracens 21: Saracens crowned European champions". The Daily Telegraph. 14 May 2016. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
  2. ↑ "Lyon to host 2016 Champions Cup and Challenge Cup finals with Edinburgh chosen for 2017". European Professional Club Rugby. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
  3. ↑ "European Rugby Champions Cup (EPCR)". European Professional Club Rugby. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
  4. ↑ "European Rugby Champions Cup final: Racing 92 9–21 Saracens – as it happened". The Guardian. 14 May 2016. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
  5. ↑ "Racing 9–21 Saracens: Owen Farrell kicks Aviva Premiership winners to Champions Cup glory in Lyon". Daily Mail. 14 May 2016. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
  6. ↑ Lagacherie, Bertrand (14 May 2016). "Finale de la Coupe d'Europe : Maxime Machenaud (Racing 92) aura les clés contre les Saracens". L'Equipe (in French). Retrieved 19 May 2016.
  7. ↑ "Maxime Machenaud sort après un choc". L'Equipe (in French). 14 May 2016. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
  8. ↑ "Match Report". European Professional Club Rugby. Archived from the original on 2016-05-30. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
  9. ↑ "Carter concedes defeat to injury". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
  10. 1 2 Standley, James (14 May 2016). "Saracens beat Racing 92 to win first European Champions Cup". BBC Sport. Retrieved 19 May 2016.
  11. 1 2 "European Rugby Champions Cup (EPCR)". epcrugby.com. Archived from the original on 2016-05-30. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
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