2006–07 Heineken Cup

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2006–07 Heineken Cup
Date	20 October – 20 May
Teams	24
Matches played	79
Attendance	914,048 (11,570 per match)
Final
Venue	Twickenham Stadium, London
Attendance	81,076
Champions	London Wasps
Runner-up	Leicester Tigers

The 2006–07 Heineken Cup was the twelfth edition of the European Heineken Cup rugby union club tournament. The pool draw took place on June 21 at Twickenham. The pool stages started on 20 October and concluded in January, going for six rounds. Following the quarter- and semi-finals, the final was played on 20 May before a near-capacity crowd at the 82,000-seat redeveloped Twickenham in London. London Wasps defeated Leicester Tigers 25–9, denying Tigers the domestic and European treble.

[edit] Draw

The top seeds from each of the participant nations (France, England, Scotland, Italy, Wales and Ireland) were all drawn into separate pools. These top seeds were; Benetton Treviso (pool 1), Edinburgh (pool 2), Sale Sharks (pool 3), Cardiff Blues (pool 4), Ulster (pool 5) and Biarritz (pool 6). Rules state that no two sides from the same country could be allocated the same pool. However, the seventh French club Castres could be drawn into any pool. The draw took place on June 21. The greatest team representation is from France, which has seven teams participating in the tournament. England has the second largest representation with six teams. Ireland, Wales and Italy all have three teams, and Scotland have two.

[edit] Competition format

Round 5 action – Border Reivers against Biarritz Olympique at Parc des Sports d'Aguilera in Biarritz, France.

In the pool matches, teams receive:

• four points for a win
• two points for a draw
• a bonus point for scoring four or more tries, regardless of the match result
• a bonus point for losing by seven or fewer points

Ties between two teams are broken in the following order:

1. Competition points earned in head-to-head matches. For example, if tied teams are in the same pool, and split their head-to-head matches, but one team earned a bonus point and the other failed to do so, the team that earned the bonus point will win.
2. Tries scored in head-to-head matches.
3. Point difference in head-to-head matches.
4. Tries scored in all pool matches. This is the first tiebreaker between teams in different pools, which can come into play for determining seeding among first-place teams (and did in 2006–07), or breaking ties among second-place teams.
5. Point difference in all pool matches.
6. Best disciplinary record in pool play. The team with the fewest players sent off or sin-binned during pool play wins.
7. Coin toss.

The quarterfinals are seeded from 1 to 8. The six pool winners receive the top six seeds, based on their point totals. The top two second-place finishers are seeded 7 and 8. The seeds of the qualifying teams are in parentheses next to their names in the tables.

[edit] Pool stage

Full results can be found at 2006–07 Heineken Cup pool stage.
All times are local to the match location.

Referee Donal Courtney settling the players in Biarritz before play continues.

Key to colours

Winner of each pool, plus two highest-ranked second-place teams, advance to quarterfinals. Seed # in parentheses

[edit] Pool 1

Team	Pld	W	D	L	TF	PF	PA	+/−	BP	Pts
London Wasps (3)	6	5	0	1	23	195	64	+131	3	23
Perpignan	6	4	0	2	19	161	108	+53	2	18
Castres	6	3	0	3	17	146	136	+10	4	16
Benetton Treviso	6	0	0	6	11	83	277	−194	0	0

Notes:

• Wasps earn third seed over Leicester Tigers on the first possible tiebreaker, scoring 23 tries in pool play to Leicester's 22.

[edit] Pool 2

Team	Pld	W	D	L	TF	PF	PA	+/−	BP	Pts
(Ireland) Leinster (6)	6	4	0	2	21	174	97	+77	5	21
Agen	6	4	0	2	12	119	119	0	1	17
Gloucester	6	3	0	3	19	152	144	+8	3	15
Edinburgh	6	1	0	5	10	95	180	−85	1	5

[edit] Pool 3

Team	Pld	W	D	L	TF	PF	PA	+/−	BP	Pts
Stade Français (5)	6	4	1	1	20	174	80	+94	4	22
Ospreys	6	4	1	1	19	147	108	+39	2	20
Sale Sharks	6	3	0	3	16	147	90	+57	3	15
Calvisano	6	0	0	6	6	74	264	−190	0	0

[edit] Pool 4

Team	Pld	W	D	L	TF	PF	PA	+/−	BP	Pts
Leicester Tigers (4)	6	5	0	1	22	172	60	+112	3	23
(Ireland) Munster (7)	6	5	0	1	16	152	112	+40	3	23
Cardiff Blues	6	2	0	4	8	87	138	−51	1	9
Bourgoin	6	0	0	6	13	95	196	−101	4	4

Notes:

• Leicester Tigers win the pool on the second tiebreaker of head-to-head tries, 3–2.

[edit] Pool 5

Team	Pld	W	D	L	TF	PF	PA	+/−	BP	Pts
Llanelli Scarlets (2)	6	6	0	0	20	169	120	+49	3	27
Toulouse	6	3	0	3	18	147	145	−2	5	17
(Ireland) Ulster	6	2	0	4	10	111	129	−18	2	10
London Irish	6	1	0	5	15	124	157	−33	5	9

Notes:

• Llanelli Scarlets become only the fourth team in the history of the Heineken Cup to win all their pool matches (after Wasps in 1997–98, Bath in 2000–01, and Leinster in both 2002–03 and 2004–05). They also set a record for most points earned in pool play since the competition adopted a bonus point system in 2003–04. This record would be broken about two hours later by Biarritz.

[edit] Pool 6

Team	Pld	W	D	L	TF	PF	PA	+/−	BP	Pts
Biarritz (1)	6	6	0	0	29	186	45	+141	5	29
Northampton Saints (8)	6	4	0	2	27	188	92	+96	4	20
Border Reivers	6	1	0	5	15	121	166	−45	2	6
Parma	6	1	0	5	9	79	271	−192	1	5

Notes:

• Biarritz entered their final pool match away to Northampton Saints on 21 January 2007 with a chance to become the first club since the Heineken Cup adopted the bonus point system in 2003–04 to score bonus point wins in all their pool matches. Biarritz won, becoming the fifth team to win all their pool matches, but failed to earn a bonus point. They also broke the record for competition points earned in pool play set earlier that day by Llanelli Scarlets.

[edit] Knockout stage

	Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Final
	1 April – Welford Road
	Leicester Tigers	21
					21 April – Walkers Stadium
	Stade Français	20
					Leicester Tigers	33
	30 March – Stradey Park
					Llanelli Scarlets	17
	Llanelli Scarlets	24
									20 May – Twickenham Stadium
	(Ireland) Munster	15
									Leicester Tigers	9
	1 April – Estadio Anoeta
									London Wasps	25
	Biarritz	6
					22 April – Ricoh Arena
	Northampton Saints	7
					Northampton Saints	13
	31 March – Adams Park
					London Wasps	30
	London Wasps	35
	(Ireland) Leinster	13

[edit] Quarter-finals

30 March 2007 19:30	Llanelli Scarlets	24 – 15	(Ireland) Munster	Stradey Park, Llanelli[1] Attendance: 10,800 Referee: Chris White (England)
	Tries: James 5' c G. Thomas 40' c B. Davies 73' c Con: S. Jones (3) Pen: B. Davies 37'	Report	Tries: Dowling 66' m Ryan 78' c Con: O'Gara Pen: O'Gara 60'

31 March 2007 17:45	London Wasps	35 – 13	(Ireland) Leinster	Adams Park, High Wycombe[2] Attendance: 10,000 Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
	Tries: Reddan (2) 33' c, 66' c Haskell 42' c Cipriani 50' m Con: King (3) Pen: King (3) 3', 12', 63'	Report	Try: Whitaker 20' c Con: Contepomi Pen: Contepomi (2) 40', 60'

1 April 2007 14:00	Biarritz Olympique	6 – 7	Northampton Saints	Estadio Anoeta, Donostia-San Sebastián[3] Attendance: 32,000 Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)
	Pen: Yachvili (2) 40', 61'	Report	Try: Kydd 66' c Con: Spencer

1 April 2007 15:30	Leicester Tigers	21 – 20	Stade Français	Welford Road, Leicester[4] Attendance: 16,815 Referee: Alan Lewis (Ireland)
	Tries: Rabeni 3' m Varndell 72' c Con: Goode Pen: Goode (3) 24', 26', 52'	(Report)	Try: Hernández 20' m Pen: Skrela (4) 6', 35', 45', 64' Drop: Skrela 70'

[edit] Semi-finals

21 April 2007 15:00	Leicester Tigers	33 – 17	Llanelli Scarlets	Walkers Stadium, Leicester Attendance: 30,121 Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)
	Tries: Goode 34' c Jennings 52' c L. Deacon 75' c Con: Goode (3) Pen: Goode (4) 2', 5', 22', 63'		Tries: M. Jones 37' c Rees 50' c Con: S. Jones (2) Pen: S. Jones 10'

22 April 2007 15:00	Northampton Saints	13 – 30	London Wasps	Ricoh Arena, Coventry Attendance: 18,500 Referee: Alan Lewis (Ireland)
	Try: Reihana 3' c Con: Reihana Pen: Reihana (2) 13', 17'		Tries: Sackey 34' m, 70' c Haskell 60' m Lewsey 77' c Con: Gisbergen (2) Pen: Gisbergen (2) 28', 50'

[edit] Final

20 May 2007 14:30	Leicester Tigers	9 – 25	London Wasps	Twickenham, London Attendance: 81,076 Referee: Alan Lewis (Ireland)
	Pen: Goode (3) 7', 15', 38'	(Report)	Tries: Reddan 13' m Ibanez 34' m Pen: King (4) 4', 42', 49', 73' Drop: King 54'

[edit] Notes and references

• Venues and attendances: Heineken Cup 2006–07 Fixtures & Results (pool stages). European Rugby Cup. Accessed 22 January 2007.
• Referees: Heineken Cup 2006–07 Match Officials (pool stages). European Rugby Cup. Accessed 22 January 2007.

[edit] External links

• ERCrugby.com
• Details of the draw