2015 European Rugby Champions Cup final

2015 European Rugby Champions Cup Final

Twickenham Stadium hosted the final
Event	2014–15 European Rugby Champions Cup
Clermont Toulon 18 24
Date	2 May 2015
Venue	Twickenham Stadium, London
Man of the Match	Ali Williams (Toulon)
Referee	Nigel Owens (Wales)
Attendance	56,622
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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.

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 2 May 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 6 22 Saracens 6 17 Munster 6 15 Sale Sharks 6 2		Final standings	Pool 3 winner Team P Pts Toulon 6 22 Leicester Tigers 6 13 Ulster 6 12 Scarlets 6 8
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

Clermont

Toulon

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)

FB 15 Nick Abendanon RW 14 Noa Nakaitaci  67' OC 13 Jonathan Davies IC 12 Wesley Fofana LW 11 Napolioni Nalaga  54' FH 10 Camille Lopez SH 9 Morgan Parra  56' N8 8 Fritz Lee  54' OF 7 Damien Chouly (c) BF 6 Julien Bonnaire RL 5 Sebastien Vahaamahina  67' LL 4 Jamie Cudmore  10'  16' 57' to 65' TP 3 Davit Zirakashvili  66' HK 2 Benjamin Kayser  63' LP 1 Vincent Debaty  47' Substitutions: HK 16 John Ulugia  63' PR 17 Thomas Domingo  47' PR 18 Clément Ric  66' LK 19 Julien Pierre  10'  16'  57'  65'  67' FL 20 Julien Bardy  54' SH 21 Ludovic Radosavljevic  56' FH 22 Mike Delany  67' CE 23 Aurélien Rougerie  54' Coach: Franck Azéma

FB 15 Leigh Halfpenny RW 14 Drew Mitchell OC 13 Mathieu Bastareaud IC 12 Juan Martín Hernández  66' LW 11 Bryan Habana FH 10 Matt Giteau SH 9 Sébastien Tillous-Borde N8 8 Chris Masoe OF 7 Steffon Armitage BF 6 Juan Smith  58' RL 5 Ali Williams LL 4 Bakkies Botha  47' TP 3 Carl Hayman (c)  63'  76' HK 2 Guilhem Guirado  63' LP 1 Xavier Chiocci  48' Substitutions: HK 16 Jean-Charles Orioli  63' PR 17 Alexandre Menini  48' PR 18 Levan Chilachava  63'  76' LK 19 Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe  58' FL 20 Virgile Bruni CE 21 Rudi Wulf  66' SH 22 Frédéric Michalak LK 23 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.