Heineken Cup Semi-Final

Saracens v Munster Sunday 27^th April 3pm Ricoh Arena Coventry

Current Form

·        Munster started their 2007/2008 Heineken Cup campaign with a 24-23 defeat by European champions London Wasps at the Ricoh Arens and they will be returning on Sunday to face Saracens playing in their first ever Heineken Cup semi-final. Munster will be looking to make it to their 4^th Final.

·        Saracens went down to in-form London Wasps at Vicarage Road last Sunday and are now 8^th in the Guinness Premiership. Their only chance of a trophy this season is to win the Heineken Cup.

·        Munster played a weakened side at Musgrave Park against the Ospreys on Saturday night and scraped in with a 9-8 victory.

·        They remain 3^rd in the Magners League table behind Leinster and Cardiff Blues.

Heineken Cup 2007/2008

·        Saracens qualified for the Heineken Cup semi-finals for the first time with an inspired display against the Ospreys at Vicarage Road. They ran out victors by 19 points to 10 in front of a crowd of 18214. This was a record crowd for Saracens in the Heineken Cup beating the 11258 against Ulster in 2000.

·        They qualified for the quarter-finals as top seeds winning Pool 4 with 24 points. They won 5 from 6 played and lost at Biarritz by a single point.

·        They scored the most points by any team in the Pool matches, 225 and the most tries, 27.

·        They were the only team to pass 200 points in their 6 Pool matches.

·        When they beat Viadana 71-7 in Round 3 this season Saracens beat their highest previous Heineken Cup score of 55 against Ulster in 2000/2001, scored 10 tries beating the 8 against Colomiers in 1999/2000 and Glen Jackson kicked 9 conversions beating the 5 of Thomas Castaignede against Ulster in 2000/2001 and scored 26 points beating the 25 of Castaignede in the same game.

·        With 5 tries, Richard Haughton is the joint leading try scorer in this season’s competition with Aurelien Rougerie of Clermont Auvergne and Vincent Clerc of Toulouse.

·        Glen Jackson is the leading points scorer in this year’s competition so far with 112 and he has extended his club record to 182.

·        Kevin Sorrell has increased his Saracens Heineken Cup appearance record to 23 and Kris Chesney is second with 21.

·        Munster dominated Guinness Premiership leaders Gloucester at Kingsholm in front of 16500 spectators to book a place in their 7^th Heineken Cup semi-final.

·        They topped the so called ‘Pool of Death’ Pool 5 pipping Clermont Auvergne and London Wasps to reach the quarter-final stage.

·        In round 5 of the Pool matches against Clermont Auvergne, Ronan O’Gara scored 14 points and became the first man in the history of the Heineken Cup to break the 900 point barrier. He has now scored 89 this season and 930 points in total.

·        All Black legend Doug Howlett made his Munster debut against Clermont Auvergne. He has scored a record 49 international tries for New Zealand, a record he took from Christian Cullen, who, coincidentally, made 10 Heineken Cup appearances for Munster between 2003/2004 and 2006/2007.

·        Anthony Foley has now increased his all time Heineken Cup appearance record to 86. He has the amazing record of being the only player to play in all 13 seasons of the Heineken Cup. Fabien Pelous has played in 12.

·        4 Munster players have scored 2 tries each in this season’s Heineken Cup. Rua Tipoki, Shaun Payne, Brian Carney and Marcus Horan.

·        Munster’s quarter-final match at Gloucester was the 91st they have played in the competition. Only Toulouse with 92 have played more.

European History

·        Saracens are competing in the Heineken Cup for the 4^th time this season. They have played 6 times in the European Challenge Cup.

·        Although Saracens have never reached the final of the European Challenge Cup they have come extremely close. They drew on aggregate with Bath in the semi-final of 2003 but lost on try count and last season they lost 31-30 in the semi-final, again to Bath.

·        Saracens do hold a few European Challenge Cup records though. Their 151-0 defeat of Dinamo Bucuresti in 2003 is a competition record. They also hold the second and third highest scores having beaten both Bologna and Dinamo Bucuresti 113-3 in 2002.

·        Jannie de Beer, of 5 drop goal fame, scored a European Challenge Cup record 13 conversions in the Bologna match.

·        Glen Jackson was the leading points scorer in last year’s competition with 111.

·        Saracens met Munster in the Pool stages of the Heineken Cup the first time they qualified in 1999/2000. Two remarkable matches saw them go down 35-34 at Vicarage Road, before losing the return match 31-30 at Thomond Park.

·        Munster went on to reach the final that year, losing to Northampton after beating Toulouse in the semi-final.

·        Saracens have never progressed from the Pool stages in any of their previous 3 Heineken Cups.

·        They have played 13 matches at home and only lost twice, to Munster in 1999/00 and Cardiff in 2000/01. They are currently on a run of 8 home wins in succession.

·        With 7 tries in the Heineken Cup, Richard Hill still holds the record for Saracens.

·        Hooker Andy Kyriacou has only made 5 appearances in the Heineken Cup, for 3 different teams. One appearance each for Sale and Munster and 3 for Saracens.

·        No Saracens player has been sent off in a Heineken Cup match.

·        Munster qualified for this season’s Heineken Cup due to finishing 6^th in last year’s Magners League.

·        Munster are one of only 4 clubs, Toulouse, Leinster and Ulster the other 3, who have played in the Heineken Cup every year since its inception. This is their 13^th season in the competition.

·        Munster have a fantastic record in the Heineken Cup. They have now qualified for the quarter-finals in each of the last 10 years. They have played in 6 semi-finals prior to Sunday, qualified for the final 3 times and won the Heineken Cup once, beating Biarritz 23-19 in 2006.

·        Mick Galwey captained Munster in the 2 finals they lost and Anthony Foley was their winning captain in 2006.

·        Their home record in the competition is superb. They have played 40 matches on home soil and have won 38. They lost to Cardiff at Musgrave Park in 1997 and then won 31 consecutive home matches before finally losing to Leicester at Thomond Park in their final pool match of 2007.

·        Away from home they have won 25 from 51 played. Interestingly, they did not win away from home in the Heineken Cup until their 4^th season in the competition.

·        Munster have travelled to England 12 times in the Heineken Cup, winning 6 and losing 6.

·        When David Wallace scored Munster’s try in the 2000 Heineken Cup Final against Northampton, he became the first forward to score a try in the final.

·        Munstermen hold many Heineken Cup records. Ronan O’Gara has scored the most points in the history of the competition by some margin. His record now stands at 930.

·        Anthony Foley has scored the most tries for Munster in the Heineken Cup with 23. Only wingers Dafydd James, Michel Marfaing and Vincent Clerc have scored more.

·        Surprisingly, Anthony Foley is the only Munster player ever to score 3 tries in a Heineken Cup match, against Biarritz in 2000/2001.

·        The Heineken Cup appearance record for Munster players is staggering with Anthony Foley topping the list with 86 appearances, John Hayes 77, Peter Stringer 74, Ronan O’Gara 73 and John Kelly 67. Only Fabien Pelous with 73 appearances prevents Munster having the top 5 cap holders.

·        Munster have the best ever winning run in the Heineken Cup, 13 matches between losing at Sale in 2005 to losing at home to Leicester in 2007.

·        6 Munster players, Anthony Foley, John Hayes, John Kelly, Ronan O’Gara, Peter Stringer and David Wallace played in all 3 of Munster’s Heineken Cup Finals.

·        No Munster player has ever been sent off in a Heineken Cup Match.