Ronan O’Gara, Head Coach of La Rochelle, made the first of his four appearances in finals as a player with Munster in the first Twickenham showpiece in 2000. Northampton Saints won 9-8 on that occasion and the Munster No 10 missed two late penalties to win the match. O’Gara was a runner-up again in Cardiff in 2002, but then triumphed against Biarritz Olympique and Toulouse in the 2006 and 2008 finals in the Welsh capital.

Toulouse’s High Performance Manager, Jérome Cazalbou, started at scrum-half in the 1996 final against Cardiff and scored a try.

There are coaches on both sides who have experienced winning the Champions Cup in previous guises, the only other player apart from Will Skelton who has picked up a winner’s medal is the Toulouse veteran, Maxime Médard. The 34-year-old played in the 21-19 win against Biarritz Olympique at the Stade de France in 2010 having been on the losing side in the 2008 final in Cardiff against Munster.

Apart from Will Skelton, three members of the La Rochelle squad have previously tasted European success as Geoffrey Doumayrou, Jules Plisson and Jérémy Sinzelle were all Challenge Cup winners with Stade Francais Paris in 2017.

The home of English rugby hosts the Heineken Champions Cup final for the sixth time on Saturday – one short of the record held by Principality Stadium in Cardiff. A world club record attendance at the time of 81,076 saw Wasps defeat Leicester Tigers in 2007 and there was a tournament record for a final of 81,744 in 2012 for the all-Irish decider Leinster and Ulster.

Toulouse’s four tournament wins in 1996, 2003, 2005 and 2010 set a benchmark that Leinster reached with their victories in 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2018. Now the French club can move ahead again with an historic fifth win on Saturday, but one note of caution - the last time they played a final at Twickenham in 2004, Toulouse lost out 27-20 to Wasps.