French and English teams have won nine of the 11 Heineken Cup finals between them - a monopoly broken only by Ulster in 1999 and Munster seven years later.

Their likely absence from the tournament next season is both a depressing and damaging scenario for the European game.

Tomorrow's meeting of the Ligue Nationale de Rugby in Paris appears little more than a rubber-stamping exercise, confirming a French boycott, which would then receive unanimous support from England's 12 Guinness Premiership clubs and put the tournament in meltdown.

PA Sport's Andrew Baldock looks back on five classic Anglo-French encounters during the Heineken Cup's illustrious history.

BRIVE 28 LEICESTER 9 (Cardiff Arms Park, January 31, 1997)

Leicester, if truth be told, rolled up at Cardiff Arms Park fully expecting to brush aside the challenge of Brive, but they received a rude awakening that stunned Tigers players and their vast travelling support.

Brive delivered a wonderfully complete team performance, crushing Leicester by what remains a record winning margin for the final as skipper Alain Penaud inspired a romp that encapsulated French rugby at its finest.

Brive: Viars; Fabre, Lamaison, Venditti, S Carrat; Penaud (capt), Carbonneau; Casadei, Travers, Crespy, Alegret, Ross, van der Linden, Kacala, Duboisset.

Tries - Carrat (two), Viars, Fabre; drop-goal - Lamaison; penalty - Lamaison; conversion - Lamaison.

Leicester: J Liley; Hackney, Greenwood, Potter, Underwood; R Liley, Healey; Rowntree, Cockerill, Garforth, Johnson, Poole, Wells, Back, Richards (capt).

Penalties - J Liley (three).

BATH 19 BRIVE 18 (Stade Lescure, Bordeaux, January 31, 1998)

A year later, Brive returned to the final after seeing off Wasps and Toulouse en route, but they met a Bath side whose fierce determination and hunger for the forward battle, especially, underpinned a major upset.

Brive dominated for long periods, yet full-back Jon Callard scored all 19 of Bath's points as the west country club somehow kept the holders out and became England's first European champions.

Bath: Callard; Evans, de Glanville, Guscott, Adebayo; Catt, Nicol (capt); Hilton, Regan, Ubogu, Haag, Redman, Thomas, Webster, Lyle.

Try - Callard; penalties - Callard (four); conversion - Callard.

Brive: Penaud; J Carrat, Lamaison, Venditti, S Carrat; Arbizu, Carbonneau (capt); Casadei, Travers, Crespy, Alegret, Manhes, van der Linden, Magne, Duboisset.

Drop-goal - Penaud; penalties - Lamaison (five).

STADE FRANCAIS 30 LEICESTER 34 (Parc des Princes, Paris, May 19, 2001)

Possibly the greatest European club match saw an Austin Healey-inspired Leicester triumph against the odds in what was a home match for Stade, with Parc des Princes situated next door to their Stade Jean Bouin ground.

Diego Dominguez kicked all Stade's points, but Healey, defying all kinds of injury niggles and fatigue, conjured a winning score for centre Leon Lloyd that inched Tigers home. It was a brilliant, brutal and ultimately breathtaking contest.

Stade Francais: Dominici; Lombard, Comba, Mytton, Gomes; Dominguez, Williams; Marconnet, Landreau, de Villiers, Auradou, James, Moni, Pool-Jones, Juillet (capt).

Drop-goal - Dominguez; penalties - Dominguez (nine).

Leicester: Stimpson; Murphy, Lloyd, Howard, Stanley; Goode, Healey; Rowntree, West, Garforth, M Johnson (capt), Kay, Corry, Back, W Johnson.

Tries - Lloyd (two), Back; penalties - Stimpson (five); conversions - Stimpson (two).

WASPS 27 TOULOUSE 20 (Twickenham, May 23, 2004)

Wasps became the seventh different club to be crowned European champions after an epic Twickenham encounter that seemed destined for extra-time until Toulouse full-back Clement Poitrenaud began watching a kick he hoped would roll into touch near the line, but Wasps' Wales star Rob Howley was too quick, grabbing an opportunist touchdown while Poitrenaud could only continue staring and wish the ground would swallow him up.

Wasps were good value for their victory, scoring tries through Howley, Stuart Abbott and Mark Van Gisbergen, who also kicked 12 points, but flanker Joe Worsley was a deserved man of the match following an heroic defensive display.

Wasps: Van Gisbergen; Lewsey, Waters, Abbott, Voyce; King, Howley; Payne, Leota, Green, Shaw, Birkett, Worsley, Volley, Dallaglio (capt).

Tries - Howley, Abbott, Van Gisbergen; penalties - Van Gisbergen (two); conversions - Van Gisbergen (three).

Toulouse: Poitrenaud; Ntamack, Desbrosse, Jauzion, Heymans; Delaigue, Michalak; Collazo, Servat, Poux, Pelous (capt), Brennan, Bouilhou, Maka, Labit.

Try - Delaigue; penalties - Elissalde (three), Delaigue (two).

BIARRITZ 6 NORTHAMPTON 7 (Estadio Anoeta, San Sebastian, April 1, 2007

Undoubtedly the biggest Heineken Cup upset created by an English club came just three days ago in north-east Spain, when Northampton - bottom of the Guinness Premiership - sent the staggeringly complacent tournament favourites packing.

Centre Robbie Kydd's interception try, converted by fly-half Carlos Spencer, put Saints into the semi-finals, and left their head coach Paul Grayson reflecting: ``We were 100-1 in a two-horse race.''

Biarritz: Brusque; Bidabe, Ballan, Traille, Gobelet; Peyrelongue, Yachvili; Balan, August (capt), Avril, Thion, Couzinet, Betsen, Harinordoquy, Lievremont.

Penalties - Yachvili (two).

Northampton: Diggin; Lamont, Reihana (capt), Kydd, Cohen; Spencer, Robinson; Smith, Hartley, Brooks, Lord, Short, Tupai, Lewitt, Labit.

Try - Kydd; conversion - Spencer.