The Champions Cup - Fixtures announced (Updated)

[wormus]

The final of the European Rugby Champions Cup will be played on 2nd May 2015. At TWICKENHAM and not in Italy as proposed by the then sponsors Heineken.
Source :- Daily Mail Sports Section.

[biffer]

The final of the European Rugby Champions Cup will be played on 2nd May 2015. At TWICKENHAM and not in Italy as proposed by the then sponsors Heineken.
Source :- Daily Mail Sports Section.

It's in the telegraph too. Disappointing IMO. No doubt it'll be Paris next year as well.

[biffer]

Confirmed on official site

http://www.epcrugby.com/eng/news/28894.php

To be fair, the final of the HEC has only been at Twickenham once in the last 7 years, compared to three times in Cardiff. I'm presuming it was in Cardiff so often as that was the best guarantee of a neutral venue.

I'm just suspicious that we'll start to see a rotation where London and Paris each get the final every three years with Dublin, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Rome getting one final every three years between them.

[jgriffin]

I suspect a safe bat being played for now. I would also suspect that venues farther away than Twickers and Paris will be on the agenda if the European-wide growth of interest occurs.

[Bill W (2)]

If Twickers makes the most £ why have it anywhere else?

PS is there a Welsh Participation ageeement yet?

[InGuinnessVeritas]

I'm just suspicious that we'll start to see a rotation where London and Paris each get the final every three years with Dublin, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Rome getting one final every three years between them.

Why not? Each competing league takes it in turn to host the final. According to the great god Wikipedia, the capacities are approx:
Twickenham - 82K
Stade de France - 81.3K
Millennium Stadium - 74.5K
Stadio Olimpico - 72.7K
Murrayfield - 67.1K
Lansdowne Road - 51.7K

Couple these figures with the problems of:
a) trying to use Stadio Olimpico (or the San Siro) during the football season
b) it is likely at least one French side will reach the Champions Cup final and their supporters have, in the past, been reluctant to travel as far as Edinburgh and Dublin (remember the finals of 2003 and 2005?)

If the EPCR wants to maximise its revenue potential, then it would only be logical to use the first three of these grounds on a more regular basis than the others.

Also, I'd rather see the two finals played in different cities.

[Noddy555]

Good I'm pleased that when Tigers play in the final our fans will only have to travel to London.

[TigerCam]

Good I'm pleased that when Tigers play in the final our fans will only have to travel to London.

Makes it expensive having to go twice in one month

[Tigerbeat]

Fixtures announced - back to back with Toulon in December

http://www.epcrugby.com/eng/european-ru ... NG&round=2

18th October - Ulster (H)
25th October - Scarlets (A)
05/06/07 December - Toulon (H)
12/13/14 December - Toulon (A)
16/17/18 January - Scarlets (H)
23/24/25 January - Ulster (A)

[Jose]

Interesting to see that BT Sports have sacrificed Saints and Sale to Sky and kept Tigers and the London clubs for both of the first 2 rounds of fixtures. Wonder if this trend will continue throughout the pool rounds? Selfishly, I hope it will as would be a right pain if Toulon vs Tigers or Ulster vs Tigers ended up on Sky now I've counted on never having to donate any money to Murdoch's hideous empire again.

[MrPartridge]

Pretty happy with that… game on in terms of Ulster home 1st and then Scarlets away 2nd. Win those 2 and we have a chance… lose either and I fancy we won't make the quarters. Only shame is Toulon might be nice in October… but not December!

[tigerburnie]

Win the first three and we sit pretty, tough group for anyone to get out of, but we will.

COME ON YOU TIGERRRRRRrrrrsssss

[Bunchy]

Toulon is lovely in December, don't panic,

Another bright side to all this, if I have my calculations right we also avoid the curse of sky sports and Barnes and co in the 1st two rounds........

[Noddy555]

Oh well its prexmas to France and Mid January to Ulster, would have preferred the other way round, let's hope for good results against Scarletts and Ulster and fingers crossed against Toulon. Still one comforting thought, no Johnny Boy wonder to face this year, thank god for small mercies.

[biffer]

Interesting to see that BT Sports have sacrificed Saints and Sale to Sky and kept Tigers and the London clubs for both of the first 2 rounds of fixtures. Wonder if this trend will continue throughout the pool rounds? Selfishly, I hope it will as would be a right pain if Toulon vs Tigers or Ulster vs Tigers ended up on Sky now I've counted on never having to donate any money to Murdoch's hideous empire again.

The Toulon games and the Ulster game will be very high on BT's priority list, so I think at least three out of four of the remaining games will also be on BT.

Disappointingly little coverage of the Challenge cup. One game from the first round and one game from the second round. Very poor indeed.