28/01/2010
ERC, the tournament organisers, have today (Tuesday, 26 January 2010) announced the dates, kick-off times and broadcasters for the Heineken Cup quarter-final matches on the weekend of 9/10/11 April, 2010.
Reigning champions Leinster will kick-off the Heineken Cup quarter-finals when they entertain ASM Clermont Auvergne on Friday, 9 April. Fellow Irish province Munster, who won the title in 2006 and 2008, will be third up on Saturday afternoon when they host the 2000 champions Northampton Saints in a re-match of their recent Round 6 Pool match in Limerick.
The first of the two quarter-finals on French soil will launch the Saturday sequence of matches when Biarritz Olympique entertain the Ospreys. The Pool 2 winners will be taking their fixture across the border into Spain, to play at the 32,000 Estadio Anoeta in San Sebastian. It will be the fourth knock-out match Biarritz have played at the venue and their sixth game overall.
As well as beating Munster and Sale Sharks in the last eight in Spain, they also defeated Bath there in the semi-finals in 2006. Their only Heineken Cup defeat in San Sebastian came in 2007 when Northampton Saints pipped them 7-6 in the quarter-finals.
Three times champions Toulouse, who meet Stade Francais Paris in an all-French affair on Sunday, 11 April, have also agreed to switch their game to a bigger stadium. They have already beaten Sale Sharks and Cardiff Blues at Toulouse's 37,000 Stade Municipal this season.
HEINEKEN CUP QUARTER FINALS
(All Kick-Offs LOCAL Time)
FRIDAY, 9 APRIL 2010
20.00 Leinster Rugby v ASM Clermont Auvergne - Sky Sports / Canal+Sport
SATURDAY, 10 APRIL 2010
16.00 Biarritz Olympique v Ospreys - France 2 / Sky Sports
17.30 Munster v Northampton Saints - Sky Sports / Sport +
SUNDAY, 11 APRIL 2010
17.30 Toulouse v Stade Francais Paris - France 2 / Sky Sports.
SEMI-FINALS
1 / 2 MAY, 2010
15th HEINEKEN CUP FINAL
SATURDAY, 22 MAY, 2010 at 6.00pm - STADE DE FRANCE
Amlin Challenge Cup Quarter Finals
Meanwhile Connacht kick of the Amlin Challenge Cup Quarter finals on Saturday 10th April in Galway with the Anglo-Welsh Sunday showdown between Newcastle Falcons and Cardiff Blues on 11 April will provide the climax to the Amlin Challenge Cup quarter-finals weekend.
ERC, the tournament organisers announced the dates, kick-off times and broadcast coverage for the ground-breaking matches in which three Heineken Cup Pool runners-up will contest the Amlin Challenge Cup quarter-finals with the tournament's five Pool winners.
The only match between two Amlin Challenge Cup teams - Connacht Rugby and Bourgoin - will launch the weekend's matches in Galway on Saturday, 10 April.
And British & Irish Lions outside halves Jonny Wilkinson and Stephen Jones could go head-to-head in the south of France on the Saturday night when Toulon take on the Scarlets at Stade Felix-Mayol.
The all-England match between London Wasps and Gloucester Rugby will be the first up on Sunday before quarter-final No 4 at Kingston Park Stadium.
AMLIN CHALLENGE CUP QUARTER-FINALS
(All kick-offs local time)
SATURDAY 10 APRIL
13.00 Connacht v Bourgoin - Eurosport
21.00 Toulon v Scarlets - FR4
SUNDAY 11 APRIL
14.00 London Wasps v Gloucester Rugby - Sky Sports
15.00 Newcastle Falcons v Cardiff Blues