4 TEAMS – 2 FINALS – 1 CITY
CARDIFF TO HOST BOTH 2011 FINALS
Cardiff will play host to both of ERC’s 2011 finals with the 15th Amlin Challenge Cup showpiece match being staged at Cardiff City Stadium on Friday, 20 May (kick-off 7.45pm).
The Heineken Cup final is scheduled for the following day at the Millennium Stadium, the sixth time the tournament decider has been played in the Welsh capital, giving fans the opportunity to experience two high-profile European club finals in the one city in the space of 24 hours.
ERC, the tournament organisers, today (Monday, 6 December) broke new ground by naming the venue for the Amlin Challenge Cup final well in advance of the event.
“Traditionally, we have waited until much closer to the date before selecting the stadium for the Amlin Challenge Cup final,” said ERC Chief Executive Derek McGrath. “However, the tournament has grown in stature to the extent that we are delighted to announce the final venue almost six months in advance of the match itself.
“Last season’s innovative decision to include three Heineken Cup clubs in the Amlin Challenge Cup knock-out stages provided a major boost to the competition, and by announcing the venue for the 2011 final at this time, participating teams as well as fans of European club rugby now know that all roads lead to Cardiff for the weekend of 20 and 21 May.”
The 2011 match will be the first Amlin Challenge Cup final staged in Wales and with capacities of 74,500 and 26,828 respectively, the Millennium Stadium and Cardiff City Stadium could accommodate more than 100,000 fans at both games.
Cardiff Blues became the first Welsh team to win a European title last season when they beat Toulon in the Amlin Challenge Cup final in front of a record crowd of nearly 50,000 in Marseille. The Blues were one of three Heineken Cup teams to qualify for the Amlin Challenge Cup and they defeated Newcastle Falcons, London Wasps and Toulon on the way to a landmark triumph for Welsh rugby.
“The Heineken Cup final has become an important date in the sporting calendar and we believe there is an opportunity to offer fans a tremendous culmination to the European season with a celebration of the best teams in the two ERC tournaments,” added McGrath.
“Ultimately, those four teams will compete for two European trophies in one city. May 20 and 21 promises to be a memorable weekend of sporting action.”
Welsh Assembly Member and Heritage Minister, Alun Ffred Jones, said: “With the Millennium Stadium already confirmed as the host venue for the 2011 Heineken Cup final, we are delighted that ERC has decided that Wales will showcase not just one, but two, European finals over two days next May, providing a weekend feast of top class rugby at two of Wales finest stadia.
“Following hot on the heels of a spectacularly successful Ryder Cup, today’s announcement is another important milestone towards Wales’ ambition to stand out amongst the global crowd as a world class major events destination.”
Meanwhile, fans who have already purchased tickets for the Heineken Cup final will have the opportunity to buy Amlin Challenge Cup final tickets at a discount, and that discount will also be available to fans wishing to buy Heineken Cup final tickets. Detailed ticket information for both finals can be found at ercrugby.com
FOUR TEAMS -TWO FINALS - ONE CITY
FRIDAY, 20 MAY, 2011
AMLIN CHALLENGE CUP FINAL – Cardiff City Stadium (7.45pm)
SATURDAY, 21 MAY, 2011
HEINEKEN CUP FINAL – Millennium Stadium (5.00pm)
CARDIFF 2011 TICKET INFORMATION
Amlin Challenge Cup final ticket prices: £20, £36, £45
Heineken Cup final ticket prices: £30, £50, £60, £70 and £75
· Fans who have already bought a Heineken Cup ticket, and those wishing to buy a Heineken Cup ticket, can avail of a discount on the purchase of an Amlin Challenge Cup final ticket
· 4-person group tickets for the Amlin Challenge Cup final are available for £50
· 2011 Amlin Challenge Cup final ticket details can be found on www.ercrugby.com and www.ticketmaster.co.uk
· 25,000 tickets have been sold to date for the 2011 Heineken Cup final
THE HEINEKEN CUP LINK
In the summer of 2009 the ERC Board decided to reformat the Amlin Challenge Cup by building a bridge between that tournament and the Heineken Cup.
This was accomplished by the introduction of a system whereby teams ranked nine, 10 and 11 at the end of the Pool stages of the Heineken Cup would join the five Amlin Challenge Cup Pool winners in the Amlin quarter-finals.
The top four Amlin qualifiers all have home advantage with the three Heineken Cup teams playing away and the highest ranked Amlin Pool winner taking on the fifth ranked Amlin qualifier.
However, in a change from last season, the draw for the semi-finals now will be an open draw.
These are the teams who qualified for last season’s Amlin Challenge Cup quarter-finals:
1. Connacht Rugby (Top ranked AAC Pool winner)
2. Toulon (Second ranked AAC Pool winner)
3. London Wasps (Third ranked ACC Pool winner)
4. Newcastle Falcons (Fourth ranked ACC Pool winner)
5. Cardiff Blues (Third best Heineken Cup Pool runner-up)
6. Gloucester Rugby (Fourth best Heineken Cup Pool runner-up)
7. Scarlets (Fifth best Heineken Cup Pool runner-up)
8. Bourgoin (Fifth ranked ACC Pool winner)
The quarter-final matches were:
1 Connacht Rugby (ACC 1) v Bourgoin 8 (ACC 5)
2 Toulon (ACC 2) v Scarlets 7 (Heineken Cup 3)
3 London Wasps (ACC 3) v Gloucester Rugby 6 (Heineken Cup 2)
4 Newcastle Falcons (ACC 4) v Cardiff Blues 5 (Heineken Cup 1)
Only Cardiff Blues of the three Heineken Cup qualifiers reached the last four – and they went on to become the first Welsh team to win a European title by beating Toulon in front of a record tournament crowd of 48,990 in Marseille.
If you applied this matrix to the two tournaments after two Rounds this season then the following teams would be setting their sights on a major European club rugby cup final date at Cardiff City Stadium on Friday, 20 May, 2011.
The hypothetical quarter-final pairings would be:
1 Sale Sharks (ACC 1) v Harlequins 8 (ACC 5)
2 La Rochelle (ACC 2) v ASM Clermont Auvergne 7 (Heineken Cup 3)
3 Stade Français Paris (ACC 3) v Cardiff Blues 6 (Heineken Cup 2)
4 Montpellier (ACC 4) v London Wasps 5 (Heineken Cup 1)
Only La Rochelle and Montpellier of these teams has not been in a European final.
THE DOUBLE WINNERS
Amlin Rugby Ambassador Lawrence Dallaglio is the only player to captain sides to Heineken Cup and Amlin Challenge Cup glory. He is one of 15 London Wasps players who have won winners’ medals in both tournaments.
London Wasps did their double in successive seasons, a feat matched only by French international prop Patrice Collazo. He was a Heineken Cup winner with Toulouse in 2005 and an Amlin Challenge Cup winner with Gloucester the next year. Collazo is one of only seven non-Wasps to have done the double, and one of five Frenchmen. Herve Manent was the first player to win both titles, taking a Heineken Cup winners’ medal with Toulouse in the inaugural final in Cardiff in 1996 and an Amlin title with Colomiers two years late.
French internationals Yannick Bru and David Skrela joined him in the 1998 Colomiers side before going on to win the Heineken Cup with Toulouse. Another French international, Nicolas Bacque, won with Toulouse in the 1996 Heineken Cup final and then helped Pau win the Amlin final in 2000.
The other double winners are Argentine prop Martin Scelzo, who won the Heineken Cup with Northampton Saints at Twickenham Stadium in 2000 and the Amlin Challenge Cup with ASM Clermont Auvergne at the Twickenham Stoop seven years later. England scrum half Peter Richards also won his two titles in Twickenham – with London Wasps in the 2004 Heineken Cup final and with Gloucester in the 2006 Amlin Challenge Cup final.
IT’S A FACT
· Cardiff hosted the first Heineken Cup final at the old national ground, Cardiff Arms Park in 1996. This season’s double header in the Welsh capital over the weekend of 20 / 21 May will take the city’s ERC cup final tally to seven (six Heineken and one Amlin).
· There will be space at the two finals to fit in more than 100,000 fans – 74,500 at the Millennium Stadium and 26,828 at Cardiff City Stadium.
· It will be only the second Friday night Amlin Challenge Cup final in the tournament’s 15-year history.
· Only three teams have won both the Heineken Cup and Amlin Challenge Cup. London Wasps were the first to do the double, winning the Amlin in 2003 and the Heineken Cup a year later. They were followed by Bath Rugby (Heineken Cup in 1997 and Amlin in 2008) and Northampton Saints lifted the Heineken Cup in 2000 and the Amlin in 2009.
· The first player to receive winners’ medals in both tournaments was lock Herve Manent – the Heineken Cup with Toulouse in Cardiff in 1996 and the Amlin Challenge Cup with Colomiers in Toulouse in 1998.
· Leicester Tigers outside half Jeremy Staunton kicked off the first rugby match played at the Cardiff City Stadium when Cardiff Blues hosted the Tigers in a friendly in August and 2010 Amlin Challenge Cup final winner Ceri Sweeney scored the first try.
· Cardiff Blues share the Cardiff City Stadium with Championship football team Cardiff City. The venue will be the fifth football stadium to host a tournament final after Stade Gerland, Lyon, in 1999; the Madejski Stadium in Reading in 2001, 2003 and 2004; the Kassam Stadium in Oxford in 2002 and 2005 and finally the Stade Velodrome in Marseille earlier this year.
· There is only 1.4 miles / 2.3 kilometres distance between the Millennium Stadium and Cardiff City Stadium – the closest distance between the venues for a Heineken Cup and Amlin Challenge Cup final since 2007 when the games were played at Twickenham Stadium and Twickenham Stoop (0.7 miles / 1.1 kilometres).
· Cardiff City Stadium was designed and developed by PMG plc, who are the largest shareholders in Cardiff City FC.
· One of their directors is Mike Hall, the former Cardiff and Wales captain, who played in the inaugural Heineken Cup Final in 1996.
· The stadium is at the heart of a 60 acre redevelopment project that includes a 438,700 sq ft retail park and an international athletics stadium.
· The stadium was built at a cost of £38m and has a capacity of 26,828. Land clearance at the site began on 21 February, 2007, and construction workers came onto the site on 9 May.
· The ground was broken on the site of the new stadium by Cardiff Council leader Rodney Berman on 2 November, 2007.
· The ground was officially opened when Cardiff City played Scottish Premier League giants Celtic in a friendly on 22 July, 2009.
· The first international match played at the venue was a friendly between Wales and Scotland on 14 November, 2009. Wales won 3-0.
· The Stereophonics headlined the first gig at the stadium on 5 June, 2010.
· Record attendance for a match at the stadium is 26,049 for Cardiff City’s Championship clash with Swansea City on 7 November, 2010.
AMLIN RUGBY AMBASSADOR,
LAWRENCE DALLAGLIO, ON CARDIFF 2011
“This decision to announce Cardiff City Stadium as the venue for the 2011 Amlin Challenge Cup final makes absolute sense because it gives clarity and confidence to the teams in both tournaments and provides a focal point for rugby fans across Europe.
“Cardiff is one of the great European capital cities of rugby and the prospect of seeing four of Europe’s finest teams in action in two high-profile finals over the space of one weekend is an offer that many fans will find too good to refuse.
“If there was once a bit of a gulf between the two tournaments, that has been greatly diminished by last year’s decision to bring three Heineken Cup teams into the Amlin Challenge Cup quarter-finals.
“I know now that I can book the ultimate weekend away safe in the knowledge that I’m going to become totally immersed in a rugby-mad city full of expectant and hopeful fans from four great clubs. It’s the sort of rugby experience that should prove completely intoxicating.”
For Further Information Please Contact
Mark Jones – ERC Communications Manager
Tel: +353 1 676 9286
Mob: +353 87 25 44 998
Fax: +353 1 676 9287
email:
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
http://www.ercrugby.com
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Last Updated ( Monday, 06 December 2010 11:51 )
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New Structures announced in Connacht Rugby
Multitudes of television, radio and print journalists descended on the Sportsground today as the Irish Rugby Football Union and Connacht Rugby jointly announced a new structure for the professional game in Connacht. Unfortunately due to the inclement weather conditions, the delegates from the IRFU were unable travel West. Instead, a simultaneous announcement was made from IRFU headquarters in Lansdowne Road.  The announcement focused around a new independent Professional Game Board (PGB) to oversee all aspects of the professional game in Connacht. There will also be increased support from the IRFU based on recommendations of the new PGB, and a commitment from Leinster, Munster and Ulster to allow more movement of selected players to Connacht
The newly constructed Connacht Professional Game Board (PGB) has been established with responsibility for all activities associated with the running of the professional game in the province for the next three years. The Board will be chaired by Jimmy Staunton, a Connacht businessman who has achieved nationwide success as founding partner of Elvery’s Sports, the largest sports retailer in Ireland. He will be joined on the Board by a blend of experience from both the business and sports worlds and the remaining members of the board are:
· Conor McGuinness – Former Connacht player and international scrumhalf
· Damian Devany – Marketing consultant and former Marketing Director of O2
· Steve Cunningham – Business consultant and former Connacht Branch President
· Pat O’Connor – Swinford Solicitor & Former President of the Law Society
· Liam Rhatigan – Managing Partner of RBK Accountants
· Simon Heaslip – Galway Business-man & entrepreneur
The Board is independent of the Connacht Branch and IRFU but is accountable to the IRFU Management Committee. The Connacht PGB, whose activities will also include generating additional commercial revenues, will have the responsibility to prepare the budget annually for agreement and approval by the IRFU.
A significant element of the new structure is that the Leinster, Ulster and Munster Branches have each provided a firm commitment to the initiative, which will involve movement of selected players from those provinces to Connacht. This will allow Connacht to benefit from the playing talent from the other provincial academies and teams to develop the strength of Ireland qualified players throughout all of the four provinces. Additional support in the coaching and management assets of the Connacht Team will be provided to ensure increased competitiveness.
Gerry Kelly, Connacht Rugby Chief Executive, said: “This new development represents a shot in the arm for professional rugby in Connacht. It is an endorsement by the IRFU that Connacht is a core element of the Irish rugby family and under the direction of the new Professional Game Board, and with the commitment of support from the other Provinces, we believe that a bright and sustainable future is in store for professional rugby in the West. It is indeed a challenge but one we are looking forward to.
New Chairman of the Connacht professional Game Board, Jimmy Staunton said today: “It is an honour and privilege for me to be chairman of this new Professional Games Board. Connacht Rugby is now a business, and as such we will run it like one. I would like to thank the staff that have been working on building a brand up to now. We will start working as quickly as possible to put the plan into action but I would say to people to judge us in two to three years. We will do our best for Connacht. It’s time to get the tills ringing and get the people who would normally watch the game in front of the fire up into the Sportsground.
We see the Growth in support coming from the whole province as well as the ex-pat community nationwide. In terms of facilities, we saw that in Munster and Leinster, they built the facilities and the fans flocked. Therefore we would be looking to have a 10,000 capacity stadium that would bring in an average gate of 5-6,000 people. “
Connacht Rugby’s Head Coach Eric Elwood, who has just signed a two-year contract extension said; “This announcement gives us a great opportunity to build on what we are doing this year. We are trying to play a good brand of rugby that is attractive to both fans and good for the Magners League. The process of contracting players beyond this year has begun, and we are looking to bring some more quality into the fold, which will inevitably mean there will be changes.
From the IRFU HQ, Ireland Coach Declan Kidney was particularly pleased and said: “I think today’s announcement is a big step for both Connacht and Irish Rugby. I have always believed that the Ireland team can only become stronger with four competitive provincial teams. Competition for places and in particular in a number of key positions has been something that we have been trying to develop with the Ireland team over the last 18 months. The new developments in Connacht can only add to this as game time is essential for the development of players.”
A review is to be undertaken by the new Connacht PGB on current management, coaching structures and personnel with specific recommendations for any further structure to be discussed with and agreed by the IRFU.
The new structures announced today follow a request received from the Connacht Branch to undertake an examination of the game in Connacht. Arising from discussions between delegates of the Connacht Branch and the IRFU Management Committee, it was agreed that an independent assessment should be conducted. Specialist sports consultancy ASMT were appointed to conduct the evaluation and report jointly to Steve Cunningham, President of the Connacht Branch and Finbarr Crowley, Chairman of the IRFU Management Committee. The report involved a complete assessment of all areas of professional rugby in Connacht.
Pic (C) www.inpho.ie
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Last Updated ( Friday, 03 December 2010 14:45 )
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Tickets are now on sale for the Amlin Challenge Cup Pool 1 game between Connacht and Aviva Premiership side Harlequins. The London side visit Galway on the 17th of December, five days after Connacht travel to the Stoop. These sides met in a pre-season friendly in the Sportsground this year with the visitors coming out on top. That result will give Connacht some added motivation to reverse the scoreline. It looks like it could be a mouthwatering encounter.
Tickets are available through Ticketmaster outlets and in the Sportsground. Preices are as Follows:
Enclosed Stand: €25
Ground: €20
Concession: €15 (Student, OAP & Unwaged)
Junior: €5
As usual children under 12 are free.
Connacht's Niva Ta'auso against Harlequins in Pre-Season. (c) www.inpho.ie |
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Connacht’s Magners League clash with Aironi has been called off.
The Round 10 fixture was due to be played at the Sportsground tomorrow night but with no sign of the freezing weather conditions in the West easing up management were forced to call off the game after a pitch inspection this morning.
Connacht’s CEO, Gerry Kelly, said:
“We are bitterly disappointed to have to call off the match but the pitch is unplayable at the moment. We are also conscious of the dangers travelling fans would face and though the forecast is for slightly milder weather tomorrow, with no guarantees of a thaw we could not run the risk of leaving a decision any later with respect Aironi’s travel arrangements.”
Head Coach Eric Elwood was equally disappointed:
“We were hoping to carry the momentum from our good performance in Edinburgh last weekend into tomorrow night’s match but we’ll use the extra time to prepare for our back to back Amlin Challenge Cup games against Harlequins now.”
The match will now be refixed by Magners League and an announcement will be made when a decision is reached. All tickets purchase in advance or during Tuesday's Italian Job sale will be valid for the re-fixed game. |
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 02 December 2010 15:03 )
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Connacht Rugby Italian Job Sale
To coincide with the end of Movember, Connacht Rugby are pleased to announce ‘THE ITALIAN JOB SALE’. Between the hours of 1pm and 5pm tomorrow 30th November, all tickets for this Friday’s Connacht v Aironi clash will be on sale for only €10. This offer will be available through Ticketmaster or by calling in to the Connacht Rugby office in the Sportsground. It is a limited offer available during the stated times only so fans are advised to act fast to secure their €10 ticket.
For the last month, a number of Connacht players have been growing a ‘Mo’ for Movember. Movember is a foundation that challenges men worldwide to grow a moustache for the month of November while raising money for Action Prostate Cancer and the Irish Cancer Society. To date it has raised millions worldwide to support cancer research and Connacht Rugby are glad to be able to support. You can help raise funds by logging on to the Movember Website and donating money to any of the Connacht players. For more information on the Italian Job Sale, log on to www.connachtrugby.ie.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 29 November 2010 17:02 )
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