Wasps kings of Europe
20 May 2007
Wasps ended Leicester’s dream of a treble with a crushing European Cup final win.
Wasps scored two tries to nil in winning 25-9.
Leicester, winners of the English Premiership and Knockout Cup, were aiming to become the first English club side to do the treble. But they were always second best to Wasps.
Wasps led 13-9 at halftime with tries from scrumhalf Eoin Reddan and hooker Raphael Ibanez and in a second half of growing intensity, drove it home via the boot of flyhalf Alex King.
“We defended like our lives depended on it and I think we deserved it,” Wasps captain Lawrence Dallaglio told Sky Sports on the day the future of the tournament was secured after an agreement between French and English clubs and the organisers.
The 81,076 Twickenham crowd was a record for a club match.
27 Comments
20 May 2007, 18:09 pm
Dragons – Bulls kings of S14.
20 May 2007, 18:24 pm
Wasps had their number from the first minute. I think Leicester were a bit over confident.
20 May 2007, 18:25 pm
Bulls too end in bottom half of Super 14 next season ,still one dimensional .
20 May 2007, 18:35 pm
staal, i would say the world. sharks second, no shame in that, just dissapointment.
20 May 2007, 18:42 pm
4
wanted to say that but thought thats to windgat!
20 May 2007, 18:45 pm
most important development off the field in England, with the RFU and the Premiership Clubs agreeing at last to a trade off – £10 million to the clubs, and England International squad to get off from club duty for up to 8 weeks to focus on Tests. After 12 years it’s about time, and this is the reason Clive Woodward resigned and Robinson got the sack for not achieving results. Clubs to participate in Heineken Cup again next season together with French Clubs and other European teams.
20 May 2007, 18:48 pm
full text from BBC below..
Heineken Cup future is resolved
Next year’s Heineken Cup will go ahead with the top-flight English and French teams involved after a settlement was reached at Twickenham on Sunday.
The clubs had threatened to boycott the event over a row with England’s Rugby Football Union over shareholding and voting rights in the competition.
“I am delighted we have some good news,” said Derek McGrath, chief executive of European Rugby Cup.
“We’ve agreed that the English and French clubs will be participating.”
McGrath told BBC Five Live that the finer details of the deal had yet to be finalised but insisted that there was “more than a verbal agreement” in place over the long-term future of the Heineken Cup and European Challenge Cup.
The future of this is important to world rugby, not just European rugby
Derek McGrath, chief executive of European Rugby Cup
“We have confirmation from all the parties. We’re now in the position to say that it is confirmed that the tournament will go ahead next year,” he said.
“The longer term future of the tournament is down to the details of the document.
“The major issues were not about Europe. Everybody wanted this tournament to grow bigger and bigger. The issues within each country are not for us to comment on.
“This is not about concession, this is about everybody realising this is a magnificent product.
“The future of this is important to world rugby, not just European rugby.”
Today a new era has begun
Serge Blanco
The landmark meeting involved McGrath, Serge Blanco, president of France’s Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR), RFU boss Martyn Thomas, Premier Rugby chief Tom Walkinshaw, IRB president Syd Millar and Jean-Pierre Lux, president of tournament organisers ERC.
“It’s not only for the good of French clubs, it’s above all good for rugby in its entirety,” said Blanco.
“It will allow us to advance, to have another vision of the future. Today a new era has begun.
“All that we asked for has been accepted.”
The dispute centred on English Premiership clubs wanting the RFU to grant them a 50% shareholding in the Heineken Cup.
They claimed the RFU had gone back on a deal struck last October but the RFU denied an agreement over the release of international players involved commercial rights in Europe and pulled out.
French clubs were angry that the English clubs would not be given rights, and were also concerned about fixture congestion in World Cup year, and called a boycott of next year’s European competitions.
They were subsequently joined by the Premiership clubs, who were separately in dispute with the RFU over player-release for internationals.
Story from BBC SPORT:
20 May 2007, 20:07 pm
This match just like most of the Heineken cup was a great example of how boring rugby can be.
20 May 2007, 22:18 pm
agree P BEL; 6-3 rugby; fluke that the score was 24-9
21 May 2007, 05:25 am
At least the refereeing was good compared to what was shown in S14 final.
I tend to agree with Tana Umaga’s statement.
21 May 2007, 07:57 am
Keo
Take this “Play Play” rugby k@k off this site!
This site should be reserved for the real thing!
21 May 2007, 10:42 am
I thought the intensity Wasps showed in defence yesterday was superb. Leicester are a poweful club side, and they have a very good team. Wasps did incredibly well to keep Leicester score less in the second half and crank up the pressure.
Pirlet, the S14 final was a very intense game too, but at times the skill level was quite poor. I mean, how many times did the Bulls knock on or drop the ball. I know the Sharks defence was huge, but the lack of basic skills at times was sadly lacking.
And don’t start me on the tactical kicking of both teams.
Sometimes you guys amuse me. SA is on the up and one of your teams has won the S14 title, therefore all other rugby in the world is ****. Why not just enjoy the different rugby styles that each nation has?
21 May 2007, 10:54 am
Stodder
I have been (forced) to watch this over the last four years-Heineken Cup is low grade. Too long, you play one decent side in your pool and wait for weeks before you move on. Then there are more foreigners in each team than locals which has changed the style already
S14 is better and if you look at global results over the last 14 years Heineken Cup Rugby has done nothing special to move the Rugby here forward. Premiumship Rugby is better and it has all to do with the way the Heineken Cup is being contested for
21 May 2007, 11:12 am
JL1,
I’m not going to disagree with you about the quality of the Heineken Cup. There are too many sub-standard sides in there during the pool stages to make it watchable as a neutral.
But,
To say Premiership rugby is better is taking things a bit too far. The Premiership is attritional rugby at its worst. over the years it has become obsessed on power and strength and has marginalised players with skill an flair.
I also can’t agree with you that the Heineken Cup has done little to lift the results of national teams whose clubs/provinces are involved. For instance, Ireland would certainly not have made the advances they have without the Heineken Cup. Their players have gained valuable experience playing against the best of Europe.
The other thing to note is that the intensity of the latter stages of the Heineken Cup is often better than the fare you see in the Six Nations. I’d back certain club sides to do better than their national teams. Toulouse for instance when they were in their prime were as good a team as you would find in the S14. It would have been a very good test to see how they would have shaped up against the Crusaders two or three years ago.
If you are saying that the Heineken Cup has done nothing to lift the standard of the NH nations, would you care to remind me who the current RWC holders are? If anything, NH nations can now be considered as viable options to win the RWC, with Ireland and France currently to the fore. This has come about since the Heineken Cup came into being.
If anything, the S12/S14 held back the Kiwis and South Africans for many years because the general play was too loose and too many players got into bad habits that were exposed at test match level. For many years the only nation it benefitted was Oz in this regard.
Finally, no-one forces you to watch. You can always head outside and get some fresh air
21 May 2007, 11:15 am
I agree with stodders that it would be something worst than arrogance to regard club comps in the north as rubbish in comparison with ours in the south.
England has a good record (at home at least) against the boks and remember the boks have been beaten by the frogs last year on home soil(how short your memories).This means that their rugby can`t be that K@K.
Only NZ can talk about rugby standars but as i know them, they won`t even think about it.
21 May 2007, 12:18 pm
agree with Stodders and Namblack – this one-eyed Parochial view that NH Rugby is worse than SH rugby is not supported by the facts. And for the 1st time professional Rugby in England has now been freed from the disputes/ shackels between club and country. Club Rugby Union is taking on some of the strengths of Football clubs in England, where some Club teams will beat National teams, especially Leicester, Wasps and Munster to name but 3.Although having said that, Arsenal beat the Foorball World Champions Italy in the 1930′s, so some catching up to do..
and mr. sharptooth won’t be saying “play play” if Ireland beat the Springboks in the WC..
21 May 2007, 12:36 pm
ronstermusic,
I agree with you that the top echelon of rugby clubs in Europe can compete with their S14 brethren, especially when you look at the top teams in the Heineken Cup, the likes of Wasps, Leicester, Toulouse, Stade Francais, Biarritz and Munster.
But, it has to be noted that the strength of most of these teams is misleading as the extra quality they possess is garnered from the foreign players that supplement each side, especially the French clubs.
All of the teams listed above do have a very strong core of players from the country they are based in, but would Leicester be as good without Rabeni (Fiji), Tuilagi (Samoa) and Murphy (Ireland) for instance?
My big concern with the NH game is that there are too many average foreign born players playing in these teams, especially in England and France. This reduces the playing chances of the indigenous players and curbs their development.
Ireland use their provinces very well, and generally have only two or three foreign players within their squads. The foreign players they draft in are generally of a higher standard than what is available within the country, therefore the youngsters coming through have a quality player to learn from.
I am very hopeful that the quality of Scottish backline play improves with the signing of Stephen Larkham for the Edinburgh Gunners. If there is one player capable of improving those around him, it is Larkham. Don’t be surprised if you see him involved with the Scottish setup in the next couple of years like Todd Blackadder did.
As for your last remark about the Irish beating the Boks, it would no longer be a surprise if it did happen. The Irish have had the edge in recent years over SA when they have played in Ireland and the Boks have had it when they have played in South Africa. On neutral ground it would be anyones game. To deny that fact would just be plain ignorant and disrespectful to the strides that Irish rugby has made in the last 4 years.
21 May 2007, 15:06 pm
I’d like to see the attendance figures for the Super 14 final..
According to Twickenham, 82,000 attended the Heineken Cup final- which was a world record for a Club game..
21 May 2007, 15:14 pm
Who cares? Oh sorry, the Poms do…
21 May 2007, 15:45 pm
Rugby Union is a minority sport in England – SW, and I suppose you don’t care that England gave the World the game of Rugby either…or the world wide web for that matter..
who was William Webb Ellis again?
21 May 2007, 16:26 pm
Poms to go down to Bok’s by 50 points come saturday!
Would love to see a SA Ireland semifinal come WC time. when we have full strength side to field against the Irish they to will go down by at least 20 points!
Based on the current form and performances of the Bulls and Sharks who would bet against anything but 20 plus points?
Just a pity Ireland will never make it to a WC semi.
21 May 2007, 16:55 pm
Sharptooth,
Boks only made it to the RWC QFs last time if i’m not mistaken, did they not?
You guys can be so arrogant when it comes to your rugby. The Irish beat up the last mob you sent up north, albeit that it was a second string team as most of you put it. I thought there was no such thing as a poor Bok team, or is your depth not as strong as you’d like to think?
The Irish could only beat what was put in front of them, and they gave your boys a thrashing.
Face facts, rugby has moved on and has evolved. The Boks don’t have the same aura that they used to have. To get it back, they will need to earn it by putting in the performances on the pitch.
Ireland don’t fear the Boks anymore. They would be confident if they played you tomorrow on neutral ground. The only area the Boks have an advantage is in the front row (Ireland have poor props) and at scrum half. Everywhere else they have can match the Boks (second row for instance) and better the Boks (centre combination).
Ireland are no longer the easy beats they were 20 years ago. I suggest you catch a wake up call before you have to face them again, otherwise your pride could be heading for a bigger fall than it needs to.
21 May 2007, 18:01 pm
so if the poms lose by 3 points would the Bok victory be viewd as Pyrrhic?
I hope the players and Jake White are as complacent as the posters on this forum..
21 May 2007, 18:17 pm
ronster,
If the Poms only lose by 3, expect this board to be on fire after fulltime!
21 May 2007, 19:35 pm
Anyone that believes this NH Heineken cup rubbish must be a pom
Stodders
Ireland have beaten SA only twice with a draw
Wales 1 win in a hundred years
Your beloved Scotland has been p… poor forever, maybe one win
England have an about equal record, but they were hiding in Twickenham for the last couple of years-seldom do they play away
Just remember one world cup win with what 400 000 thousand registered players, with more money than any other nation and inventing the game what a hundred years ago and you talk about blinkers. You should read the beloved press here, no one is better than England and after beating Scotland they feel they have beaten the world, so sorry for you, it is not just SAFFAS that believe they are world beaters, same as the Irish who feel that they can actually beat the top sides 3 Saturdays in a row-whoopy f….. do. It will not happen
You mention 82000 spectators at Englands stadium not at that miserable pitch in Wycombe (which is the actual hoemground of the one finalist). If the S14 had a bigger stadium it would attract even more, but hey count all the spectators during the Heineken cup tournament-defnitely club rugby ( a handfull), I play rugby here and no one cares about the Heineken cup
21 May 2007, 19:36 pm
I cant’t remember when a NH team actually beat anyone outside of their pound rich stadiums
22 May 2007, 08:38 am
NH Rugby is BORING to watch.
Even my flatmate who is no fan of rugby, sits up and takes notice when a S14 game is on,and asks to change the channel when the premiership rubbish is going on,to which gladly oblige.
England won the WC once.They wont win it again for a long time to come.
Ireland may get a sniff of the semi’s but will contunue to be also rans.
Wales..nuff said.
Bokke ..hmm well as a Saffa let me say,it would be GREAT if we make the semi’s with all this political **** going on.
After all who else has beaten the AB’s in the last 2 years ?
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