hosted the Heineken Cup final and the fourth time in eleven years it had been staged in Cardiff. The Millennium Stadium had previously hosted the 2002 final between Tigers and Munster. The referee for the match was Chris White representing the Rugby Football Union (RFU). The 42-year-old became the first referee to take charge of three Heineken Cup finals, having officiated the 2003 and 2005 editions. White's assistants were touch judges Dave Pearson and Tony Spreadbury also representing the RFU. The television match official was the RFU's Geoff Warren and the citing commissioner was Bill Dunlop. Both clubs received an ticket allocation of 7,650 distributable by both sides from a total of 73,300. Tickets for adults were priced at £15, £25, £35 and £45 with concessions. Munster received an extra allocation of almost 3,000 tickets in early May 2006 to accommodate an increase of stadium capacity by 600 seats. A total of 48,000 were sold to the general public, 4,100 were distributed through the ERC's partners and 2,900 were sold as general hospitality packages. Munster captain Anthony Foley said his team had "no divine right" to win the final and they would treat it as a normal fixture with "a 50–50 chance" of victory. Lock Paul O'Connell said Munster would not alter their approach and would play with the same mindset they had in the previous rounds. He said the team were "ridiculously motivated" to win the final. O'Gara dismissed criticisms of Biarritz's style of play, saying: "I don't buy into this notion that they are a dour side." Munster coach Declan Kidney commented the fixture had "all the makings of a great game" and his club's sole option was to pay attention to themselves: "It is a pretty daunting task coming up against a side like Biarritz, and you never really know how it is going to pan out – it is just a brilliant opportunity for everyone involved." Fly-half Julien Peyrelongue said Biarritz were ready to win their first Heineken Cup: "The objective was to be at top form on May 20 and that’s what we will achieve. Since February we have been working hard physically to reach that level. We now have experience and the composure to cope with highly-pressured matches like this one." Damien Traille predicted a physical, intemperate match that would be won on finer details, adding: "we also have to perform better man for