Heineken Cup Final 2013
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Eight British players will
be involved as Clermont Auvergne and Toulon bid to succeed Leinster as Heineken
Cup holders in Dublin on Saturday.
Jonny Wilkinson leads Toulon
with fellow Englishmen Delon Armitage, Andrew Sheridan and Nick Kennedy in the
starting line-up at the Aviva Stadium.
Toulon also have Steffon
Armitage and Wales' Gethin Jenkins on the bench.
Wales' Lee Byrne is at full-back
for Clermont while former Scotland lock Nathan Hines also starts the match.
“To get a shot at something
like this at this stage of my career for the first time is amazing”
Jonny Wilkinson
Clermont, who topped the French
Top 14 after the regular season by a point from Toulon, also include former All
Blacks wing Sitiveni Sivivatu, Fijian flyer Napolioni Nalaga and seven French
internationals including star centre Wesley Fofana and goal-kicking scrum-half
Morgan Parra.
Toulon's star-studded side
features former Wallaby pivot Matt Giteau, ex-Springboks Bakkies Botha and
Danie Rossouw, former All Blacks prop Carl Hayman and Argentine back-rower Juan
Martin Fernandez Lobbe, plus four French internationals including powerhouse
centre Mathieu Bastareaud.
Wilkinson, who turns 34 on
25 May, is among five players nominated for this year's European Player of the
Year award.
Despite his four Six Nations
titles, including one Grand Slam, and World Cup glory with England in 2003, Saturday
could bring only the third club trophy of his 16-year career, having won a
league title and domestic cup with Newcastle.
"Where I stand now it's
all I've got to play for, so that gives you a fair idea of the importance of it
to me," he said.
Clermont full-back Lee Byrne
could become the ninth Welshman to win a Heineken Cup
"Rugby for me is
becoming a one-game-at-a-time situation, so every game is hugely important.
To
actually get a shot at something like this at this stage of my career for the
first time is amazing.
"It's a case of day by
day just realising how fortunate you are to be within a group that can provide
you with that opportunity and just to try to make the most of it.
"It's all I've got to
play for now in my career and therefore it's the biggest thing for me."
Neither Clermont nor Toulon
have won a European trophy, Toulon having lost the second-tier Challenge Cup
final twice in the last three years.
Clermont came agonisingly
close to reaching last year's final, having l ost out at the death to Leinster
in a thrilling semi-final in Bordeaux.
Coach Vern Cotter admits the
pain of that defeat has been a driving force for his players as they aim to
become only the third French side - after four-time champions Toulouse and
Brive - to win the Heineken Cup.
"All experiences in
sport are important, even the ones you lose - they drive you and motivate
you," said the New Zealander.
"If we win on Saturday
we will get a reward for all the hard work and the objectives we set nine
months ago as a group. It would be very satisfying."
Clermont Auvergne: Lee
Byrne; Sitiveni Sivivatu, Aurelien Rougerie (capt), Wesley Fofana, Napolioni
Nalaga; Brock James, Morgan Parra; Thomas Domingo, Benjamin Kayser, Davit
Zirakashvili, Jamie Cudmore, Nathan Hines, Julien Bonnaire, Gerhard Vosloo,
Damien Chouly.
Replacements: Ti'I Paulo,
Vincent Debaty, Clement Ric, Julien Pierre, Julien Bardy, Ludovic
Radosavljevic, David Skrela, Regan King.
Toulon: Delon Armitage; Rudi
Wulf, Mathieu Bastareaud, Matt Giteau, Alexis Palisson; Jonny Wilkinson (capt),
Sebastien Tillous-Borde; Andrew Sheridan, Sebastien Bruno, Carl Hayman, Bakkies
Botha, Nick Kennedy, Danie Rossouw, Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe, Chris Masoe.
Replacements: Jean Charles
Orioli, Gethin Jenkins, Davit Kubriashvili, Joe Van Niekerk, Steffon Armitage,
Maxime Mermoz, Frederic Michalak, Jocelino Suta.
Referee: Alain Rolland
(Ire),
Assistant ref: Wayne Barnes
(Eng)
Assistant ref: George Clancy
(Ire)
TMO: Marshall Kilgore (Ire)
Citing commissioner: Murray
Whyte (Ire)