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May 24 down the years
Munster crowned champions of Europe again
Scrum.com
Munster captain Paul O'Connell with the Heineken Cup trophy, Munster v Toulouse, Heineken Cup Final, Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, Wales, May 24, 2008
Munster skipper Paul O'Connell celebrates with the Heineken Cup on this day in 2008 © Getty Images
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2008
Munster won their second Heineken Cup title, beating Toulouse 16-13 in front of 74,417 spectators at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium.

A first-half Denis Leamy try and two penalties from Ronan O'Gara were just enough for Munster to nudge a 16-13 victory. Munster won their second European title in three seasons to give the outgoing director of rugby Declan Kidney a dream send-off before he went on to become the head coach of the Ireland later on that year.

They had been given a scare in the second half by a try from Yves Donguy, set up by a moment of brilliance from France winger Cedric Heymans, but were cheered to glory by a fervent collection of their famous red army.

2003
Toulouse won the first-ever Heineken Cup Final to feature sides from the same country. They beat compatriots Perpignan 22-17 at Lansdowne Road before 28,600 spectators.

Perpignan failed to recover from a 19-0 interval deficit after Toulouse wing Vincent Clerc scored an immaculately-worked try and fly-half Yann Delaigue kicked 14 points. Delaigue administered the final blow with his fifth successful penalty in the final minute of normal time, following sustained Perpignan pressure.

Perpignan gave it everything though, with their Australian fly-half Manny Edmonds booting four penalties and wing Pascal Bomati grabbing a last-gasp try, but Toulouse did enough during the opening period when they had a strong breeze behind them.

2003
The Blues claimed the 2003 Super 12 title with a thrilling 21-17 victory over the Crusaders at Eden Park. The Blues were outscored three tries to two, but the accurate kicking of five-eighth Carlos Spencer was enough to ensure his side won a deserved title.

As expected, the contest was an extremely tight affair and after setting the standard in attack all season it was the Blues defence that proved a match winner. The Blues looked to have the game secure when flanker Daniel Braid put his side ahead 21-10 in the 67th minute. But the defending champions attacked relentlessly in a thrilling final 10 minutes. Daniel Carter, Leon MacDonald and Chris Jack were either stopped on the line or were just centimetres short before winger Caleb Ralph finally found a way through in the 76th minute to reduce the lead to 21-17.

2005
Cardiff Blues announced that New Zealander Xavier Rush had signed for them. Rush won eight caps for the All Blacks and captained Auckland Blues to the 2003 Super 12 title before deciding to move to Wales, where he swiftly became a fan favourite and club captain.

1888
The British touring team lost 4-0 to Auckland in the last match of the first leg of their tour of New Zealand and Australia.

1930
After seeing his team beat Taranaki 23-7 in New Plymouth, the Lions' manager, James Baxter, called New Zealand wing-forwards "cheats" on account of what he believes were their off-side tactics.

1969
Playing for the most part with only 14 men the Barbarians wound up their tour of South Africa with a 32-22 defeat of a District side that contained a strong Springbok Test element.

1975
Scotland's first visit to New Zealand opened with a convincing 51-6 win against the Nelson Bays. Andy Irvine scored 23 points, including eight conversions, for the tourists.

1988
Wales achieved the best result of their tour of New Zealand. Three Mark Ring penalties and two dropped goals by Jonathan Davies brought the tourists a 15-13 win against Otago, for whom John Timu scored the only try of the match.

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