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The champions of last season's Heineken Cup and Amlin Challenge Cup will go head-to-head at the RDS on Saturday when Leinster clash with Biarritz Olympique. - 23/04/2013 16:14
The champions of last season’s Heineken Cup and Amlin Challenge Cup will go head-to-head at the RDS on Saturday when Leinster clash with Biarritz Olympique.
Joe Schmidt's Leinster failed to qualify for the knock-out stages of the Heineken Cup but will be out to lift another European title and join London Wasps, Bath Rugby and Northampton Saints as winners of both ERC tournaments.
And they can also become the first side to claim three European trophies in consecutive seasons.
Both London Wasps and Leicester Tigers have previously done the double – Wasps with back-to-back Challenge and Heineken Cup titles in 2003 and 2004 and the Tigers with consecutive Heineken Cup crowns in 2001 and 2002.
But while 2009, 2011 and 2012 Heineken Cup champions Leinster can move a giant step closer to a unique piece of history in the Champions Challenge clash, Biarritz will be determined to defend their own crown.
The Basque giants edged past Toulon at the Twickenham Stoop to lift the Amlin Challenge Cup last year, with dead-eyed talisman Dimitri Yachvilli landing seven penalties.
They have a wealth of talent across the pitch with the likes of Imanol Harinordoquy, Damien Traille, Iain Balshaw and Taku Ngwenya within their ranks.
And, while they have proved they have pedigree on the road with victories over Wasps on the way to the 2012 final and against Gloucester in this season’s quarter-finals, they will have the massive additional motivation by the carrot of automatic qualification for the 2013/14 Heineken Cup tournament.
They currently languish 11th in the Top 14 and warmed up for their European day of destiny with a 14-0 defeat to Bordeaux Begles.
Meanwhile Leinster are fighting on two-fronts with a place in the RaboDirect PRO12 play-offs already secured.
The Dubliners have won 12 of their 14 matches since being put to the sword by Clermont Auvergne, including an away victory over Heineken Cup semi-finalists Munster two weeks ago.
They will also have the motivation of setting up a fitting finale for several key players.
Isa Nacewa and Jonny Sexton, both integral in their previous Heineken Cup triumphs, will bid farewell to the club in the summer and if successful against Biarritz, Leinster will also have the advantage of the Amlin Challenge Cup final being held at their home ground at the RDS on Friday, May 17.
Match facts
• Leinster have faced Biarritz on five occasions in the Heineken Cup. They have won three and lost two of those, though their last meeting came in January 2004.
• Jamie Heaslip has made more carries than any other player in ERC competitions this season; the Ireland captain has carried the ball on 95 occasions so far.
• Leinster have lost their last two matches against French opposition in Europe (both v ASM Clermont Auvergne this season) but were unbeaten in their previous six.
• Takudzwa Ngwenya was the top metre-maker in the Amlin Challenge Cup quarter-finals, carrying the ball for 163 metres.
• Biarritz have reached five ERC semi-finals before and have advanced from the last four in three of those matches.
Semifinale di Amlin Challenge Cup a senso unico con i campioni d'Europa uscenti che hanno dominato dall'inizio alla fine segnando cinque mete e conquistando così la possibilità di giocare nello stadio di casa la finale contro lo Stade Francais - 27/04/2013 17:54
Leinster Rugby marched on to the Amlin Challenge Cup Final after demolishing Biarritz Olympique 44-16 at the RDS.
The Heineken Cup holders will now meet Stade Francais Paris back in Dublin on May 17 as they target a third European trophy in as many seasons.
Joe Schmidt’s men scored five tries to make light work of the reigning Amlin Challenge Cup champions in a highly-entertaining affair.
Jonathan Sexton, Isa Nacewa and Brian O’Driscoll were all on the scoresheet, with Amlin Man of the Match Jamie Heaslip grabbing a brace of tries.
It had threatened to be a very different story, though, as Biarritz closed to within a single point just before the half-time interval.
But Sexton’s score and Heaslip’s second in the space of the final three minutes of the opening half ensured Leinster led 24-9 at the break and Biarritz never looked like producing a miraculous comeback.
Leinster enjoyed a perfect start in the sunshine as Heaslip finished off a fine training ground move. A deep line-out just inside Biarritz territory saw Devin Toner find Nacewa with an immediate inside ball off the top and the Fijian wing made 20 metres before handing Heaslip the simplest of run ins.
Sexton added the extras to complete the seven-point score but was surprisingly off target with a relatively straightforward penalty attempt with 13 minutes played.
And despite such a promising beginning from the hosts, Biarritz hit back with a brace of quick-fire penalties from the ever-reliable boot of Dimitri Yachvili and were just a point adrift after 23 minutes.
Sexton’s first three-pointer pushed Leinster 10-6 clear but again Biarritz responded when Yachvili knocked over his third success from three attempts just four minutes before the end of the half.
But that was as good as it got for the Basque giants as Leinster ran riot in the closing stages of the half and then again after the break.
Sexton sliced through for his side’s second try three minutes prior to half-time and Heaslip added another in injury time as Leinster landed the killer blow. With Sexton converting both scores, Biarritz were suddenly 15 points down after the opening 40 minutes and facing a huge challenge to maintain their dream of becoming the first side to retain the Amlin Challenge Cup.
Those dreams were all but dashed when Sexton struck a 45th-minute penalty and Nacewa sped over for a fourth try just four minutes later. Taku Ngwenya’s yellow card for not rolling away when somehow stopping Ian Madigan from claiming a wonderful, solo score hit his team where it hurt and Leinster ensured it was a double punishment as Nacewa finished off another fine move.
Madigan slotted the conversion and then a penalty to make it 37-9 before O’Driscoll got in on the act with a fifty try following Sean Cronin’s substantial sprint deep into opposition territory.
Biarritz at least grabbed a converted consolation score through hooker Arnaud Heguy with 11 minutes left but a consolation was all it was ever going to be given the huge deficit.
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