Heineken Cup Final Preview

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Last Updated on Saturday, 22nd May 2010, 

Written by Anto

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Toulouse v Biarritz:

Unsurprisingly, online bookmakers William Hill have made Toulouse the massive favourites to win this match at odds of 3/10. Their opponents, Biarritz, are major outsiders at 11/4, while the draw can be backed at 20/1. Toulouse have won this competition on three previous occasions while Biarritz are looking to record their first victory in their second ever final appearance. Can Biarritz upset the odds to become the 2010 champions?

Toulouse are the only side to ever have won the Heineken Cup on three separate occasions since its inception in the 1995/1996 season. They have reached the final on five occasions with their wins coming in 1996 v Cardiff Blues, Perpignan in 2003 and Stade Français in 2005, while they were defeated by Wasps in 2004 and Munster in 2008. They have not lost a final to another side from France on both occasions that they faced teams from the same country, however their wins against Cardiff and Stade Français are the only two of the fourteen finals that have ended as draws and gone to extra time. Of the eight matches that they have played in this year’s tournament Toulouse have lost just one game – v the Cardiff Blues in the group stages. They comfortable winners in their other five group matches and then faced pool 4 winners Stade Français in the Quarter Finals. Toulouse again ran out comfortable winners by a scoreline of 42-16 before defeating Leinster 26-16 to book their final place. They have played extremely well so far, can they keep it up and claim a record breaking fourth title?

Biarritz will not make it easy for Toulouse and have already got their revenge against Munster for the defeat in the 2006 final by beating them in the Semi Finals to book their place at the Stade de France to make an all French final in France. Biarritz started off their run to the final in excellent fashion and they won five of six group games, with their solitary loss coming at the hands of Gloucester. After progressing to the knockout stage Biarritz faced the Ospreys, where they held off a late charge by the Welsh side to take a 29-28 win. With this they progressed to the Semi Finals where they faced Munster and defeated them 18-7 after being 7-0 down after 30 minutes. Can they continue in their impressive form to take their first ever Heineken Cup crown?

These two sides met in Top 14 action in March with Biarritz running out 26-10 winners with Dmitri Yachvili scoring six penalties in the match, just as he did against Munster in the Semi Finals of this competition. This victory will still be fresh in the minds of the Biarritz players and they will know what they have to do in order to claim their first Heineken Cup. However, Toulouse will not just roll over for their fellow countrymen and with this being their sixth final in fifteen years they surely have the ability to win again. Who will be the champions though? I feel that the class of Toulouse will shine through and they will claim their fourth Heineken Cup title.

BetRepublic.com Recommends:

• Back Toulouse to win the match within eighty minutes @ 1/3 with PaddyPower.com.
• Split your stakes on Toulouse to win by 1-5 points @ 5/1 and 6-10 points @ 9/2 with William Hill.