Wasps to defend trophy
LONDON: Heineken Cup winners Wasps are relishing the chance to defend the trophy next season after a boycott that threatened the tournament was averted.
Their 25-9 victory over Leicester on Sunday in the final came only two hours after tournament officials said they had reached an agreement with French and English clubs for Europe's top club competition to go ahead with a full complement.
Both Wasps and Leicester will try to match Toulouse's unique feat of winning the tournament three times, but Leicester - the only team to successfully defend the title - will have to do it without the guiding hand of coach Pat Howard who is leaving.
Wasps, upset winners over Toulouse in 2004, repeated the dose on the same Twickenham turf to beat Leicester and deny this season's Premiership and EDF Energy Cup winners a unique treble.
Captain Lawrence Dallaglio, long weary of the off-field politics that constantly bedevil the game, was delighted to have another shot soon after his 35th birthday in August.
"Today was a great advert for the Heineken Cup and we are all thrilled to bits that we can go ahead next season, it's fantastic," he said. "This competition goes from strength to strength."
Agencies
(China Daily 05/22/2007 page24)
