Heineken Cup Round 4
Pool 6
Toulouse v Leicester Tigers – Sunday 16th December 3pm
Current Form
Sunday’s meeting brings together the two most succesful teams in the history of the Heineken Cup.Both have played in a record 4 finals.
Leicester have had a good start to this season’s Guinness Premiership winning 5 of their first 7 matches and occupying 4th place in the league.
Their 2 losses have come at home to Gloucester and away at Saracens.
They occupy second position in Heineken Cup Pool 6 having lost 22-9 to Leinster in Dublin before routing Edinburgh 39-0 at Welford Road and beating Toulouse 14-9 last Saturday.
Toulouse sit at the top of the French top 14 after four rounds.
They are the only unbeaten team in the league, having beaten Stade Francais and Albi at home and won away at Dax and Biarritz.
They currently top Heneken Cup Pool 6 with an away win in Edinburgh followed by a home win against Leinster. Their defeat at Leicester last week has left it very tight at the top with Toulouse 1 point ahead of Leicester and 2 in front of 3rd placed Leinster.
Current Information
Andy Goode has scored 37 of Leicester’s 62 points in the first two rounds.
In the second match this season against Edinburgh, Martin Corry played in his 60th Heineken Cup game for Leicester beating the record of Graham Rowntree.
In the same match, Andy Goode scored 19 points to overtake Tim Stimpson to become Leicester’s leading points scorer in the Heineken Cup with 369.
Goode has now scored more points in the Heineken Cup than any other Englishman.
Also in the Edinburgh match, Geordan Murphy scored his 19th Heineken Cup try to equal Leon Lloyd’s club record.
Jean-Baptiste Elissalde and Valentin Courrent have scored 41 of Toulouse’s 61 points between them after 3 games.
Jean-Baptiste Elissalde has now increased his Toulouse Heineken Cup record points haul to 333.
Vincent Clerc scored a try against Leinster and he is now only 1 try behind the Toulouse Heineken Cup record of 24 tries by Michel Marfaing.
Last Saturday Fabien Pelous equalled Yannick Bru’s Toulouse Heineken Cup record of 64 appearances for the club.
All Black teammates Aaron Mauger and Byron Kelleher will be facing each again on Sunday.
European History
Leicester are the only team to have won the Heineken Cup in consecutive years, 2001 and 2002.
They were beaten finalists in 1997 and 2007.
Neil Back is one of only 3 forwards, David Wallace of Munster and Raphael Ibanez of London Wasps being the other two, to have scored a try in a Heineken Cup final.
Leicester are the only English team to have played in the Heineken Cup in all 11 seasons since English teams entered in 1996/97.
Martin Johnson and Lawrence Dallaglio are the only Englishmen to captain a side to win the Heineken Cup and with Fabien Pelous of Toulouse, the only men to hold the cup aloft twice.
An unusual fact about Leicester’s South African centre Glen Gelderbloom. He is the holder of 2 Heineken Cup winners medals. He was a replacement in both the 2000 and 2001 finals and came on the field in the 76th minute in both. He played a total of 8 minutes plus time added on.
Brothers Martin and Will Johnson both played in Leicester’s Heineken Cup victories of 2000 and 2001.
Leicester’s 34 points against Stade Francais is the highest ever scored in a Heineken Cup Final.
Leon Lloyd with 2 tries in the above match is one of only 2 players to score 2 tries in a Heineken Cup final, the other is Sebastien Carat of Brive in 1998.
10 Leicester players have played in a record 3 Heineken Cup finals.
Andy Goode was the leading points scorer in last year’s competition with 89.
Leicester have played 39 games at home in the Heineken Cup and only lost 7. 4 of these losses were to French teams.
Leicester have played 40 away games in the Heineken Cup and won 24. They have played in France on 12 occasions and won 8 including a victory against Toulouse 10 years ago.
Only twice in 10 seasons have Leicester failed to progress from the pool stage of the tournament.
Leicester and Toulouse have now met 5 times in the Heineken Cup. Leicester winning 3 to Toulouse’s 2.
Toulouse were the first team to beat Leicester in the Heineken Cup at Welford Road, on 4th October 1997.
No Leicester player has ever been sent off in the Heineken Cup.
Toulouse are the only team in the history of the Heineken Cup to win it 3 times.
They were also beaten finalists to London Wasps in 2004.
Toulouse were the first ever winners of the Heineken Cup in 1996.
Jean-Luc Cester of Touoluse scored the first ever try in the Heineken Cup, against Romanian club Farul Constanta, in the first ever game on 31st October 1995.
Philippe Carbonneau played for Toulouse in the first Heineken Cup final in 1996 and then played for Brive in 1997 and 1998. The only man to play in the first 3 finals.
12 other Toulouse players have played in a record 3 Heineken Cup finals.
Emile Ntamack is the only man to play in Heineken Cup finals 8 years apart.
Cedric Heymans has 3 Heineken Cup winners medals and played a total of 36minutes rugby. He was an unused replacement for Brive in 1997 and Toulouse in 2003, and came on in the 64th minute against Stade Francais in 2005 in which 20 minutes extra time was played.
Only 3 players have collected Heineken Cup winners medals with different clubs, Carbonneau and Heymans (see above) and Federico Mendez with Bath in 1998 and Northampton in 2000.
Brothers Phillipe and Olivier Carbonneau both played for Toulouse in their 1996 Heineken Cup winning side.
Brothers Finau and Isitolo Maka both played for Toulouse in their 2005 Heineken Cup winning side.
Toulouse have played in the Heineken Cup in all 13 seasons since its inception.
They have played more matches, 88 than any other team.
They have won more matches,62 than any other team.
With 629,390, Toulouse have had more people watch them at home in the competition than any other team.
With 294, Toulouse have scored more tries in the Heineken Cup than anyone else.
Toulouse are the only team to have scored a century of points in a Heineken Cup match, when they beat Ebbw Vale 108-16 in 1998/99 and in the process scored a competition record 16 tries in a match.
Clement Poitrenaud was joint leading tryscorer in last season’s Heineken Cup with 7 tries.
Toulose have played 46 matches away from their home in the Heineken Cup, winning 25, losing20 and 1 ending in a draw.
Toulouse have played 42 matches at home in the Heineken Cup and only lost 6. They have only lost 2 of their last 25 matches in the competition going back to 2000/01.
Leicester were the first team to beat Toulouse in France and Bath and Saracens have also achieved the feat.
Toulouse have visited English clubs 13 times in the Heineken Cup winning 5, losing 7, with 1 game drawn.
As well as his 64 Heineken Cup appearances for Toulouse, Fabien Pelous also played 5 times for Dax and is only behind the Munster trio of Anthony Foley, John Hayes and Peter Stringer in the all time Heineken Cup appearance list.
Guy Noves has coached Toulouse every season since the inception of the Heineken Cup and is the only coach to win the cup 3 times.
Patrick Soula was the first Toulouse player to be sent off the field in the Heineken Cup, against Cardiff in October 1996.Cyril Vancheri in 1998 and Xavier Garbajosa in 2002 have also been sent off. |
