2015 European Rugby Champions Cup Final

The 2015 European Rugby Champions Cup Final was the final match in the first European Rugby Champions Cup, and the twentieth European club rugby final in general, as the competition replaces the Heineken Cup.

2015 European Rugby Champions Cup Final
Twickenham Stadium hosted the final
Event2014–15 European Rugby Champions Cup
Clermont Toulon
18 24
Date2 May 2015
VenueTwickenham Stadium, London
Man of the MatchAli Williams
RefereeNigel Owens (Wales)
Attendance56,622

The final was played between the French clubs Clermont and Toulon at Twickenham Stadium on 2 May 2015.

Toulon won the final, beating Clermont by 24 points to 18.[1] This was the third successive win by Toulon of the top European club rugby competition.[2][3]

Background

In the Heineken Cup (1995–2014), Toulon won twice, the two last editions of the tournament (2013 and 2014). The first of those finals was also Clermont's only final, and Toulon won 16–15 at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland.[4] In 2014, Toulon won 23–6 against England's Saracens at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales.[5]

Venue and ticketing

Following a competitive tendering process, the tournament organisers, European Professional Club Rugby, announced in August 2014 that the final would be held in the 82,000 capacity Twickenham Stadium, London on May 2, 2015.[6] The scheduling makes it the earliest in the season that the European final has been held since the 1999 Heineken Cup Final, and is two weeks after the semi-finals are held, providing limited opportunity for supporters of the two finalists to make arrangements to attend.[7] Around 8000 supporters of the two clubs involved in the final travelled to Twickenham, with part of their allocations being returned.[8]

Efforts were made to try and boost attendance by offering free tickets to the final to those that purchased tickets to the Aviva Premiership final that was to be held in the same venue later in the month. However, a technical issue meant that the requirement to purchase the Premiership final tickets was not initially enforced, meaning customers could order only the free ticket and pay just a booking fee.[9]

Route to Final
Further information: 2014–15 European Rugby Champions Cup

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

Clermont Auvergne Round Toulon
Opponent Result Pool stage Opponent Result
Saracens 23–30 (A) Matchday 1 Scarlets 28–18 (H)
Sale Sharks 35–3 (H) Matchday 2 Ulster 23–13 (A)
Munster 16–9 (A) Matchday 3 Leicester Tigers 21–25 (A)
Munster 26–19 (H) Matchday 4 Leicester Tigers 23–8 (H)
Sale Sharks 22–13 (A) Matchday 5 Ulster 60–22 (H)
Saracens 18–6 (H) Matchday 6 Scarlets 26–3 (A)
Pool 1 winner
Team P Pts
Clermont 622
Saracens 617
Munster 615
Sale Sharks 62
 Final standings Pool 3 winner
Team P Pts
Toulon 622
Leicester Tigers 613
Ulster 612
Scarlets 68
Opponent Result Knock-out stage Opponent Result
Northampton Saints 37–5 (H) Quarter-finals Wasps 32–18 (H)
Saracens 13–9 (H) Semi-finals Leinster 25–20 (H)
(A.E.T.)

Clermont

In the pool stages, third-seeds Clermont topped Pool 1, winning five of six games. Their only defeat was their first game, losing 30–23 away to Saracens at Allianz Park on 18 October 2014.[10] After that, they defeated Munster and Sale Sharks home and away, and concluded on 15 January 2015 with an 18–6 victory over Saracens at the Stade Marcel Michelin.[11]

On 4 April in the quarter-finals, Clermont hosted English champions Northampton Saints and won 37–5.[12] Fourteen days later in the semi-finals they hosted Saracens, who had defeated them in the previous season's Heineken Cup semi-finals, and won 13–9. Wesley Fofana scored the only try of the match for Clermont, converted by Brock James, who also scored both of their penalties.[13]

Toulon

Seeded second, Toulon won Pool 3 with five victories and one defeat. Their one loss came away to Leicester Tigers on 7 December, 25–21.[14] In the quarter-finals, they triumphed 32–18 over Wasps at the Stade Mayol on 5 April, with tries by Mathieu Bastareaud and Ali Williams. Both were converted by Frédéric Michalak, who also scored all six of their penalties.[15] Two weeks later they won their semi-final 25–20 after extra time against Leinster at the Stade Vélodrome in Marseille. The game finished 12–12 after 80 minutes, and in extra time both teams scored tries: Bryan Habana's for Toulon was converted by Leigh Halfpenny, but Séan O'Brien scored a late try for Leinster.[16]

Match

Details
2 May 2015
17:00 BST (UTC+01)
Clermont 18–24 Toulon
Try: Fofana 24' m
Abendanon 62' c
Con: Lopez (1/2) 62'
Pen: Lopez (2/2) 7', 12'
 Report[17] Try: Bastareaud 40' c
Mitchell 69' m
Con: Halfpenny (1/2) 40+2'
Pen: Halfpenny (4/5) 16', 28', 32', 51'
Twickenham Stadium, London
Attendance: 56,622
Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
FB15 Nick Abendanon
RW14 Noa Nakaitaci 67'
OC13 Jonathan Davies
IC12 Wesley Fofana
LW11 Napolioni Nalaga 54'
FH10 Camille Lopez
SH9 Morgan Parra 56'
N88 Fritz Lee 54'
OF7 Damien Chouly (c)
BF6 Julien Bonnaire
RL5 Sebastien Vahaamahina 67'
LL4 Jamie Cudmore 10' 16' 57' to 65'
TP3 Davit Zirakashvili 66'
HK2 Benjamin Kayser 63'
LP1 Vincent Debaty 47'
Substitutions:
HK16 John Ulugia 63'
PR17 Thomas Domingo 47'
PR18 Clément Ric 66'
LK19 Julien Pierre 10' 16' 57' 65' 67'
FL20 Julien Bardy 54'
SH21 Ludovic Radosavljevic 56'
FH22 Mike Delany 67'
CE23 Aurélien Rougerie 54'
Coach:
Franck Azéma
FB15 Leigh Halfpenny
RW14 Drew Mitchell
OC13 Mathieu Bastareaud
IC12 Juan Martin Hernandez 66'
LW11 Bryan Habana
FH10 Matt Giteau
SH9 Sébastien Tillous-Borde
N88 Chris Masoe
OF7 Steffon Armitage
BF6 Juan Smith 58'
RL5 Ali Williams
LL4 Bakkies Botha 47'
TP3 Carl Hayman (c) 63' 76'
HK2 Guilhem Guirado 63'
LP1 Xavier Chiocci 48'
Substitutions:
HK16 Jean-Charles Orioli 63'
PR17 Alexandre Menini 48'
PR18 Levan Chilachava 63' 76'
LK19 Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe 58'
FL20 Virgile Bruni
CE21 Rudi Wulf 66'
SH22 Frédéric Michalak
LK23 Romain Taofifenua 47'
Coach:
Bernard Laporte

Man of the Match:
Ali Williams (Toulon)

Touch judges:
George Clancy (Ireland)
Wayne Barnes (England)
Television match official:
Graham Hughes (England)

References
  1. "Mitchell stunner ensures Toulon complete historic treble". ESPN. 2 May 2015. Retrieved 5 May 2015.
  2. "Toulon beat Clermont Auvergne to win first European Rugby Champions Cup". Guardian. 2 May 2015. Retrieved 5 May 2015.
  3. "Toulon secure hat-trick". BBC Sport. 2 May 2015. Retrieved 5 May 2015.
  4. "Heineken Cup final: Clermont Auvergne 15 Toulon 16: match report". Daily Telegraph. 18 March 2013. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
  5. "Champions of Europe". European Professional Club Rugby. Archived from the original on 8 September 2015. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
  6. "Twickenham to host inaugural European Champions Cup final". The Irish Times. 12 August 2014.
  7. James, Steve (25 April 2015). "European Champions Cup final too soon, admits EPCR chief". The Telegraph.
  8. Kitson, Robert (20 April 2015). "European Champions Cup organisers fear half-empty Twickenham final". The Guardian.
  9. Thomas, Simon (28 April 2015). "Has rugby's new European Champions Cup worked? Simon Thomas investigates amid thrilling rugby and a ticket fiasco". Wales Online.
  10. Standley, James (18 October 2014). "European Rugby Champions Cup: Saracens beat Clermont Auvergne". BBC Sport. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
  11. Aylwin, Michael (18 January 2015). "Saracens through after defeat by Clermont but tough away day awaits". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
  12. "European Champions Cup: Clermont 37-5 Northampton". BBC Sport. 4 April 2015. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
  13. Standley, James (18 April 2015). "European Champions Cup: Clermont Auvergne 13-9 Saracens". BBC Sport. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
  14. Standley, James (7 December 2014). "European Rugby Champions Cup: Toulon 23-8 Leicester". BBC Sport. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
  15. Standley, James (5 April 2015). "European Rugby Champions Cup: Toulon 32-18 Wasps". BBC Sport. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
  16. Standley, James (19 April 2015). "European Champions Cup: Toulon 25-20 Leinster (aet)". BBC Sport. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
  17. "European Rugby Champions Cup (EPCR)". epcrugby.com. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 14 September 2017.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.