Americas Rugby News Rugby news from across the Americas!
Toulouse are the 2024 European Champions Cup Winners. The French Top 14 side downed Irish province Leinster 31-22 in a contest which went into extra time. The title is the sixth for Toulouse.
Juan Cruz Mallía from Córdoba and Santiago Chocobares from Rufino featured in the win. The former started on the right wing and the latter was a replacement. Mallía scored a 2nd minute try which was disallowed by the TMO. Chocobares provided a try assist in the second-half.
Injury to New Zealander Pita Ahki, who is capped by Tonga, saw Chocobares enter the game early. He came on in the 22nd minute. He and Mallia celebrated the win together.
The victory was the second Champions Cup title for Mallia. He scored the match-winning try for Toulouse against La Rochelle in the 2021 Champions Cup. As such, Mallía is now a two-time Champions Cup winner. Mallía and Chocobares are also both two-time Top 14 champions. USA prop David Ainu’u did not feature for Toulouse in the 2024 Final.
The title means Toulouse now add a sixth star to their jerseys. Toulouse are the undisputed Kings of European professional rugby; the next best team in tournament history is Leinster with four titles.
The Toulouse triumph also adds another Top 14 title to the Champions Cup. French clubs have won twelve of the Champions Cup Finals. English Premiership clubs have ten titles and United Rugby Championship (URC) teams have seven titles.
Leinster’s four titles are the majority of URC title in Europe. Moreover, all seven times that URC teams won the European titles are Irish teams. The European championship expanded to include South Africa teams following the jump from Super Rugby to the URC.
| MATCH HIGHLIGHTS |
