The 2006 Heineken Cup Final was a rugby union match played at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, on 20 May 2006, to determine the winners of the 2005–06 Heineken Cup, European rugby's premier club competition. The match was contested by Irish province Munster and French side Biarritz. It was the 11th Heineken Cup final overall and the third final appearance for Munster (their first since 2002, when they lost 15–9 to Leicester Tigers), while Biarritz were competing in their first final. It was the second time the Millennium Stadium had hosted the Heineken Cup final, the other being in 2002, and the fourth to take place in Cardiff, including finals played at the old Cardiff Arms Park.
Each team needed to progress through the group stage and two knockout rounds to reach the final, playing nine matches in total. Biarritz and Munster each won their respective groups to qualify for the quarter-finals. Biarritz then beat Sale Sharks in the quarter-finals and Bath in the semis, while Munster beat Perpignan in their quarter-final and fellow Irish province Leinster in their semi. Chris White, representing the Rugby Football Union, was the referee for the match, which was played under a closed roof in front of 74,534 spectators.
Biarritz scored first through a Sireli Bobo try, converted by Dimitri Yachvili, in the 2nd minute. Munster scored a penalty goal through Ronan O'Gara in the 7th minute and took the lead 10 minutes later, when Trevor Halstead scored a try that was converted by O'Gara. Yachvili scored a penalty for Biarritz to level the match at 10–10, before Munster scored their second try courtesy of Peter Stringer (again converted by O'Gara) to give them a 17–10 half-time lead. In the second half, O'Gara extended Munster's lead to 10 points with his second penalty of the game, but Yachvili reduced Biarritz's deficit to one point with three unanswered penalties in the space of 22 minutes; however, another penalty for O'Gara in the 73rd minute pushed Munster further back in front. There were no further scores, giving Munster a 23–19 win and their first Heineken Cup title.
Background
The Heineken Cup, the premier club competition of European rugby, was established by the Five Nations Committee in 1995 as a new competition for professional rugby clubs across Europe. Its first 10 seasons were dominated by English and French clubs, who won 9 of the 10 titles, Ulster the sole Irish victors in 1999. In 2005–06, the participating teams were drawn from the English Premiership, the Irish/Scottish/Welsh Celtic League, the Italian Super 10 and the French Top 14 based on their domestic performance the previous season. In the 10 previous Heineken Cup finals, the only previous meeting between an Irish side and a French one was in Ulster's 21–6 win over Colomiers. This was Munster's third final in the competition and their first since 2002, when they lost 15–9 to Leicester Tigers. They had also lost 9–8 to another English side, Northampton Saints, in the 2000 final. Meanwhile, Biarritz were appearing in their first Heineken Cup final and were thus also aiming to win their first Heineken Cup. The two teams had met each other twice before in the competition; Munster had won their first encounter in the competition 38–29 in the quarter-finals of the 2000–01 Heineken Cup, while Biarritz won the other match at the same stage of the 2004–05 tournament. Approximately 15,000 Munster fans watched the match on a giant screen in O'Connell Street, Limerick.
Route to the final
The 2005–06 Heineken Cup featured 24 teams from England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, France and Italy, who were drawn into six groups of four teams each. Teams were awarded four points for a win and two for a draw, with bonuses awarded to teams scoring four of more tries, and/or losing by seven or fewer points. The winners of each of the six groups as well as the two highest-placed runners-up qualified for the quarter-finals. The knockout stage then progressed as a single-elimination tournament.