Twickenham To Host 2012 Heineken Cup Final

Twickenham has been announced as the venue for the 2012 Heineken Cup final, domestic European rugby’s showpiece event.

The last time the fixture was held at the stadium was 2007, when Wasps beat Leicester.

The match will take place on the weekend of 19th-20th May 2012 and will be the fourth time the London ground has staged a European final.

Next season’s competition will begin three weeks later than usual, on the weekend of 11th-13th November, to allow for the end of the New Zealand World Cup.

The international tournament reaches its climax at Eden Park in Auckland on 23rd October.

The Amlin Challenge Cup will begin on the same weekend as the Heineken Cup, with a second set of fixtures taking place the following weekend.

There will then be a set of back-to-back matches in both competitions in December (8th-11th and 15th-18th) and January (12th-15th and 19th-22nd).

Quarter-final ties will be played over the weekend of 5th-8th April 2012 and the semi-finals will take place between 27th-29th May.

The Challenge Cup final will be contested on the same weekend as the Twickenham final, at a venue which has yet to be confirmed.

Toulouse beat Biarritz to win the 2010 Heineken Cup in Paris, while Cardiff Blues defeated Toulon in Marseille to take last year’s Challenge Cup.