2002 Heineken Cup Final

2002 Heineken Cup Final

Event	2001–02 Heineken Cup
Leicester Tigers Munster 15 9
Date	25 May 2002
Venue	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
Referee	Joël Jutge (France)
Attendance	74,600

The 2002 Heineken Cup Final was the final match of the 2001–02 Heineken Cup, the seventh season of Europe's top club rugby union competition. The match was played on 25 May 2002 at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff; this was the third time the final had been played in Cardiff after the 1996 final won by Stade Toulouse and 1997 final won by CA Brive but the first since the substantial redevelopment of the ground for the 1999 Rugby World Cup.

The match was contested by Leicester Tigers of England and Munster of Ireland. Munster were appearing in their second final after losing the 2000 Heineken Cup Final to Northampton Saints. Tigers were the defending champions having beaten Stade Francais in the 2001 Heineken Cup Final and were appearing in their third final after losing the 1997 final to Brive.

Leicester Tigers won the match 15-9, becoming the first team to defend the trophy successfully.^[1] In the first minute Tigers had a try by Freddie Tuilagi ruled out for illegal blocking on Munster wing John Kelly.^[2] Munster took a 3-0 lead from Ronan O'Gara's penalty before Tigers had a second try ruled out inside the first 10 minutes, Martin Johnson had pounced on a Frankie Sheahan over throw but referee Joël Jutge was not ready and the throw re-taken. After 20 minutes O'Gara slotted his second penalty for a 6-0 lead after Lewis Moody had been ruled offside. Geordan Murphy scored Tigers first try after a sweeping break from Tim Stimpson and dummy before finding Murphy to make it 6-5 when the conversion was missed. A scrum penalty against Darren Garforth gave O'Gara his third penalty goal for a 9-5 lead. However once Harry Ellis, a try scorer in the semi final, was introduced on 52 minutes the game swung into Leicester's favour. Tigers turned down kicks at goal in search of the try that came when Austin Healey darted over, Tim Stimpson's conversion gave Leicester a 12-9 lead. O'Gara missed an opportunity to level the scorers and seconds later Stimpson slotted the last points of the game for a 15-9 final score. More drama was to come though as Munster wing Kelly thought he had scored in the corner, only to be denied by a last ditch cover tackle by man of the match Healey.^[3]

Match details

25 May 2002 15:00 BST

Leicester Tigers	15 – 9	Munster
Tries: Murphy  26' Healey  59' Con: Stimpson  59' Pen: Stimpson  70'	Report	Pen: O'Gara  7', 20', 49'

Millennium Stadium, Cardiff Attendance: 74,600 Referee: Joël Jutge (France)

Leicester Tigers

Munster

FB 15 Tim Stimpson RW 14 Geordan Murphy OC 13 Ollie Smith  78' IC 12 Rod Kafer LW 11 Freddie Tuilagi FH 10 Austin Healey SH 9 Jamie Hamilton  52' N8 8 Martin Corry OF 7 Neil Back BF 6 Lewis Moody RL 5 Ben Kay LL 4 Martin Johnson (c) TP 3 Darren Garforth HK 2 Dorian West LP 1 Graham Rowntree  74' Replacements: SH 16 Harry Ellis  52' LP 17 Perry Freshwater  74' OC 18 Glenn Gelderbloom  78' HK 19 Richard Cockerill N8 20 Will Johnson OF 21 Josh Kronfeld FH 22 Andy Goode Coach: Dean Richards

FB 15 Dominic Crotty  66' RW 14 John Kelly OC 13 Rob Henderson  68' IC 12 Jason Holland LW 11 John O'Neill FH 10 Ronan O'Gara SH 9 Peter Stringer N8 8 Anthony Foley  53' OF 7 David Wallace BF 6 Alan Quinlan RL 5 Paul O'Connell  62' LL 4 Mick Galwey (c) TP 3 John Hayes HK 2 Frankie Sheahan  18' 29' LP 1 Peter Clohessy  61' Replacements: HK 16 James Blaney  18' 29' FL 17 Jim Williams  53' LP 18 Marcus Horan  61' LK 19 Mick O'Driscoll  62' FH 20 Jeremy Staunton  66' WG 21 Mike Mullins  68' SH 22 Mike Prendergast Coach: Declan Kidney

See also

• 2001–02 Heineken Cup

References

1. "Tigers retain European Cup". BBC Sport. 9 March 2002. Retrieved 3 January 2014.
2. "Tigers are Heineken champs once again". ESPNscrum. 25 May 2002. Retrieved 15 October 2016.
3. "Leicester hang on to defend Heineken crown". ESPNscrum. 25 May 2002. Retrieved 15 October 2016.