2011 Heineken Cup Final
 |
|||||||
| Event | 2010–11 Heineken Cup | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|||||||
| Date | 21 May 2011 | ||||||
| Venue | Millennium Stadium, Cardiff | ||||||
| Man of the Match | Jonathan Sexton (Leinster) | ||||||
| Referee | Romain Poite (France) | ||||||
| Attendance | 72,456 | ||||||
The 2011 Heineken Cup Final was the final match of the 2010–11 Heineken Cup, the 16th season of Europe's top club rugby union competition. The match was played on 21 May 2011 at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales. The match was contested by Northampton Saints of England and Leinster of Ireland, the second Heineken Cup final for each club. Leinster won the match 33–22 after being 22–6 down at half-time. The win was Leinster's second win in three years of the competition.
The Millennium Stadium was chosen as the venue for the 2011 Heineken Cup Final on 17 May 2010. The stadium has already hosted three Heineken Cup Finals. The first, in 2002, saw Leicester Tigers defeat Munster 19–15. Munster returned for the next Cardiff final in 2006, defeating French side Biarritz 23–19. Two years later, Munster faced and defeated another French side, Toulouse, with the final score 16–13. The 2011 final was the first Heineken Cup Final held in the Millennium Stadium that does not involve Munster.
Northampton Saints had played in one previous Heineken Cup Final—in 2000. The Saints defeated Munster 9–8 at Twickenham in London. From their victory until the 2010–11 season, they had made the knockout stages only twice: in 2003 and 2005.
Leinster reached the semi-finals four times previously (1996, 2003, 2006 and 2010) and also won in the 2009 final at Murrayfield in Edinburgh. Their run to the 2009 final was memorable for their quarter-final victory over Harlequins in a match marred by the Bloodgate scandal.
...
Wikipedia