Twickenham to Stage 2012 Heineken Cup Final

It has been announced that Twickenham will stage the 2012 Heineken Cup final, domestic European rugby union’s showpiece event, five years after last hosting the match-up in 2007, when Wasps overcame Leicester.

The match will be the fourth Heineken Cup final to have been staged at the London ground and will take place on the weekend of 19th-20th May 2012.

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 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, with the international tournament reaching 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.