Twickenham to host 2007 final

Twickenham will host next season's Heineken European Cup final, the third time in seven years the honour has fallen to the home of English rugby. ERC confirmed the decision to stage the 12th European Cup final in London on May 19th/20th, 2007.

It seems certain the revamped Twickenham - when work finishes on the South Stand capacity will rise to 82,000, all seated - will break the record for the largest crowd to attend a European Cup final, currently held by the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, the venue for next month's final between Munster and Biarritz.

In 2000 a record 68,000 watched Northampton Saints pip Munster 9-8, and in 2002 some 74,600 turned up to see Leicester Tigers beat Munster 15-9.

Interestingly, the two previous finals staged at Twickenham were won by English teams: Northampton (2000) and London Wasps, who beat Toulouse 27-20 in 2004 thanks to Rob Howley's late try.

Tickets for the 2007 European Cup final went on sale yesterday from Ticketmaster, so optimists out there have been given the opportunity to guarantee a place at next year's final. Tickets are available from £25 (€36).

ERC chief executive Derek McGrath enthused: "We are delighted to be going back to Twickenham for the 2007 Heineken Cup final. We have already staged two hugely successful finals at the ground and it will be exciting for all the clubs in the tournament to be aiming to play at the recently refurbished venue."

Paul Vaughan, business operations director of the English RFU was similarly upbeat: "Having sold out for our 11th final at the Millennium Stadium this year, we are aiming to fill the 82,000 seats at the new Twickenham and set a new record for the tournament. It is a privilege for the RFU to host the most prestigious club fixture in the world."

Not surprisingly, he urged fans to buy tickets early.

Ireland's representatives next season will be seeded according to how they finish in the Celtic League.

Biarritz Olympique secured an additional, seventh, place for France as a result of their semi-final win over Bath last Saturday.

Meanwhile, the former Ulster, Ireland and Lions secondrow Jeremy Davidson is the latest inductee into the Irish Rugby Union Players Association (Irupa) Hooke & McDonald Hall of Fame, joining Peter Clohessy, Eric Elwood, Mick Galwey, Paddy Johns and Keith Wood.

Davidson played for Dungannon, Ulster, London Irish and Castres, becoming in 1999 the first foreigner to captain Castres. He made his international debut against the Fiji in 1995 and was capped 33 times. He toured with the 1997 British & Irish Lions to South Africa, where he played in all three Tests and was voted player of the tour.

Davidson suffered a serious cruciate-ligament injury while with London Irish before joining Castres and going on to became a double Lion on the 2001 tour to Australia.

He played his last Test for Ireland against Scotland in September 2001.

Returning to Ulster, Davidson ruptured the cruciate once more and had to retire in 2003. He coaches AIL Division One club Dungannon.

The Irupa Awards will be presented at the Burlington Hotel, Dublin, next Wednesday.