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The Cardiff scrum half on that day was Andy Moore, and he has spoken exclusively to ercrugby.com about the day, and the impact of the Heineken Cup.
"The inaugural season of the Heineken Cup was a fantastic experience. It was something that every player had been waiting for. Up till that point we had only ever played other side s in Wales and the odd English club, now we were pitting our wits against the best that Europe could offer.
"We started our campaign against Begles-Bordeuax, a strong French outfit. I remember it was an evening kick off, it was a full house and a fantastic atmosphere. We were lining up against teams and players we'd never met- only heard about, so it was a big occasion for us as players. The game itself was very exciting and it ended up as a draw. We beat Ulster at home, and made it thought to the semi finals.
"The semi final was an incredible occasion. We went over to Dublin and played Leinster. We took their home record - they hadn't lost a competitive game there for hundreds of years! It was a funny game, because the weather was awful and it stopped flights form Cardiff, we felt like we were there on our own, and that just spurred us on, we played well and got through for the dream final against Toulouse.
"The atmosphere in the changing room before the final was one of nervousness. It was the final that we wanted to play because we'd all heard about Toulouse- it was almost like playing the French national side because they had so many international players. And our side was full of internationals as well.
"The atmosphere in the ground was fantastic. There was huge crowd, it was a sunny day, and everybody was ready to go for a great game. This was the pinnacle of European competition.
"The game itself started in a whirlwind for Toulouse. Before we knew it they had scored two great tries- we were shell shocked. It took us quite a while to regroup and we realised maybe we had given them too much respect. We had to remember we weren't a bad side ourselves, so we worked hard and played ourselves back into the game.
"The second half became a very tight affair. The score after 80 minutes was 18all. We then went into extra time, and unfortunately gave away a very dubious penalty underneath the sticks in the last 20 seconds of extra time. Daylo kicked the penalty and we lost 21-18- it was devastating.
"European success now is something that everybody strives for, you don't hear so many people saying 'We're going for the title'- its 'We're going to aim for a place in the Heineken Cup. It is the competition everybody wants to play I, and if you look over the last two or three years, the atmosphere at all the games has been fantastic.
"For me, the Heineken Cup is the be all and end all of Northern hemisphere club Rugby."
THE 1996 FINAL
6 January, 1996 Cardiff Arms Park Attendance: 21,800
CARDIFF 18 TOULOUSE 21 (after extra time)
Half-time: 6-12; Full time: 15-15
CARDIFF: M Rayer; S Ford (N Walker 97), M Hall, M Ring (J Davies 40), S Hill; A Davies, A Moore; A Lewis, J Humphreys, L Mustoe, J Wakeford, D Jones, E Lewis, O Williams, H Taylor (captain)
Scorer: Penalty goals - A Davies 6
TOULOUSE: S Ougier; E Ntamack (captain), P Carbonneau (E Artiguste 93), T Castaignede, D Berty (U Mola 69); C Deylaud, J Cazalbou; C Califano, P Soula, C Portolan, H Morin, F Belot, D Lacroix (R Castel 58), H Manent, S Dispagne
Scorers: Tries - T Castaignede, J Cazalbou; Conversion - C Deylaud; Penalty goals -C Deylaud 2; DG - T Castaignede
Referee: D McHugh (Ireland) extra time.
