For the game at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium will not only bring to an end another great season of high-class action in the most important club tournament in the northern hemisphere, but also set the countdown clock running ahead of the 2025 final at Principality Stadium on Saturday, 24 May.
Tickets for the game in a year’s time went on sale last Friday for what will be the 30th anniversary final. The first final was staged at the National Ground, Cardiff Arms Park in January 1996 when Toulouse pipped Cardiff in extra time.
The following year it was Brive’s turn to pick up the title, beating Leicester Tigers, while a third French Top 14 side, RC Toulon triumphed in 2014 when they beat Saracens. Leicester Tigers returned to beat Munster in the 2002 final in the Welsh capital before the Irish province won in 2006 and 2008.
There was another Irish success in 2011, when Johnny Sexton inspired a record second half come back for Leinster as they beat Northampton Saints.
The 2025 will be a record eighth final at the home of Welsh rugby and the EPCR Challenge Cup final will also take place at the same venue the previous night, Saturday, 23 May. The previous Challenge Cup finals in Cardiff were staged at Cardiff City Stadium in 2011 and Cardiff Arms Park in 2014.
The first tickets for the ‘Cardiff 2025 Finals’ weekend went on sale last week. A limited number of ‘golden tickets’ are available to those fans who are subscribed to EPCR’s My Gainline database for one week only. CLICK HERE
These are the best seats available at the lowest prices for both matches with a 50% discount for the EPCR Challenge Cup Final. For full details log on to epcrrugby.com.
Cardiff were the only Welsh region involved in the Champions Cup this season and the Ospreys are the only side still in with a chance of qualifying for next season’s tournament. They need to finish in the Top 8 in the BKT United Rugby Championship to reach that goal and that means they will have to beat Cardiff with a bonus-point on Judgement Day at Cardiff City Stadium on Saturday, 1 June.
Not only that, they will have to hope some of the teams ahead of them drop points on the final weekend. It all adds to the intrigue, importance and excitement of Judgement Day.
“We’re trying to benchmark ourselves against the very best – we want to look upwards, not down. We were very happy with the outcome last weekend, you can’t get more than five points,” said Ospreys head coach Toby Booth.
“If we get what we want from the game against Cardiff and we don’t make it into the Top 8, it won’t be down to that game. It will be down to dropping a point here or there earlier in the season.
“It’s a tight league.”
