1996–97 European Challenge Cup pool stage

1996–97 European Challenge Cup pool stage
Season 1996–97 European Challenge Cup
Date 12 October 1996 - 2 November 1996
Qualifiers
Seed 1 Castres Olympique
Seed 2 Northampton Saints
Seed 3 Bourgoin
Seed 4 SU Agen
Seed 5 AS Montferrand
Seed 6 Toulon
Seed 7 Narbonne
Seed 8 Bordeaux-Begles
1997–98
(Next)

The pool stage of the 1996–97 European Challenge Cup took place between 12 October 1996 and 2 November 1996. 24 teams were arranged into four pools of six teams, with each team playing the other teams in their pool once. Teams were awarded two points for a win and one point for a draw. The winner and runner-up of each pool progressed to the knockout stage of the tournament.

Contents

Pool 1

Team P W D L Tries for Tries against Try diff Points for Points against Points diff Pts
Agen 5 5 0 0 20 0 +11 156 82 +74 10
Montferrand 5 4 0 1 30 8 +22 211 74 +137 8
Sale Sharks 5 3 0 2 18 14 +4 166 115 +51 6
Newport 5 2 0 3 14 19 −15 98 158 −60 4
Glasgow 5 1 0 4 15 30 −15 113 202 −89 2
Newbridge 5 0 0 5 16 33 −17 106 219 −113 0
12 October 1996
Agen 32 – 13 Newport Stade Armandie
12 October 1996
Newbridge 38 – 62 Glasgow Rugby Welfare Ground
12 October 1996
Sale Sharks 12 – 17 AS Montferrand Heywood Road

16 October 1996
Agen 27 – 17 AS Montferrand Stade Armandie
16 October 1996
Glasgow Rugby 9 – 29 Sale Sharks Hughenden
16 October 1996
Newport 24 – 9 Newbridge Rodney Parade

19 October 1996
AS Montferrand 76 – 9 Glasgow Rugby Stade Marcel Michelin
19 October 1996
Newbridge 13 – 30 Agen Welfare Ground
19 October 1996
Sale Sharks 52 – 22 Newport Heywood Road

26 October 1996
Agen 33 – 16 Sale Sharks Stade Armandie
26 October 1996
Newbridge 12 – 46 AS Montferrand Welfare Ground
26 October 1996
Newport 25 – 10 Glasgow Rugby Rodney Parade

30 October 1996
Glasgow Rugby 23 – 34 Agen Hughenden
2 November 1996
AS Montferrand 55 – 14 Newport Stade Marcel Michelin
2 November 1996
Sale Sharks 57 – 34 Newbridge Heywood Road

Pool 2

Team P W D L Tries for Tries against Try diff Points for Points against Points diff Pts
Castres Olympique 5 5 0 0 29 6 +23 207 71 +136 10
Narbonne 5 4 0 1 21 6 +15 161 90 +71 8
Dinamo Bucureşti 5 2 1 2 12 32 −20 109 213 −104 5
Bridgend RFC 4 1 1 2 10 14 −4 94 120 −26 3
Bristol Shoguns 5 1 0 4 11 12 −1 128 99 +29 2
Treorchy 4 0 0 4 10 23 −13 72 178 −106 0
12 October 1996
Bridgend 23 – 36 Castres Olympique Brewery Field
12 October 1996
Bristol Shoguns 53 – 5 Treorchy Memorial Ground
12 October 1996
Narbonne 73 – 22 Dinamo-Bucureşti Parc des Sports et de l'Amitié

16 October 1996
Bridgend 30 – 27 Bristol Shoguns Brewery Field
16 October 1996
Castres Olympique 67 – 6 Dinamo-Bucureşti Stade Pierre Antoine
16 October 1996
Treorchy 19 – 26 Narbonne The Oval

19 October 1996
Bridgend 24 – 24 Dinamo-Bucureşti Brewery Field
19 October 1996
Bristol Shoguns 16 – 18 Narbonne Memorial Ground
19 October 1996
Castres Olympique 61 – 17 Treorchy Stade Pierre Antoine

26 October 1996
Bristol Shoguns 14 – 27 Castres Olympique Memorial Ground
26 October 1996
Dinamo-Bucureşti 38 – 31 Treorchy Steaua Stadium
26 October 1996
Narbonne 33 – 17 Bridgend Parc des Sports et de l'Amitié

2 November 1996
Dinamo-Bucureşti 19 – 18 Bristol Shoguns Steaua Stadium
2 November 1996
Narbonne 11 – 16 Castres Olympique Parc des Sports et de l'Amitié
2 November 1996
Treorchy Bridgend The Oval

The Treorchy v Bridgend match was not played.[1]

Pool 3

Team P W D L Tries for Tries against Try diff Points for Points against Points diff Pts
Northampton Saints 5 5 0 0 28 12 +16 207 88 +119 10
Toulon 5 4 0 1 22 10 +12 164 102 +62 8
Orrell 5 2 0 3 18 22 −4 122 173 −51 4
Connacht 5 2 0 3 9 17 −8 94 131 −37 4
Dunvant 5 1 0 4 15 22 −7 106 169 −63 2
Petrarca Rugby 5 1 0 4 10 19 −9 118 148 −30 2
12 October 1996
Connacht 34 – 12 Petrarca Rugby The Sports Ground
12 October 1996
Orrell 32 – 29 Dunvant Edgehall Road
12 October 1996
Toulon 29 – 38 Northampton Saints Stade Félix Mayol

16 October 1996
Dunvant 26 – 9 Connacht Broadacre
16 October 1996
Northampton Saints 61 – 7 Orrell Franklin's Gardens
16 October 1996
Toulon 32 – 23 Petrarca Rugby Stade Félix Mayol

19 October 1996
Connacht 11 – 31 Northampton Saints The Sports Ground
19 October 1996
Orrell 23 – 28 Toulon Edgehall Road
19 October 1996
Petrarca Rugby 49 – 11 Dunvant Stadio Plebiscito

26 October 1996
Northampton Saints 48 – 32 Dunvant Franklin's Gardens
26 October 1996
Orrell 42 – 25 Petrarca Rugby Edgehall Road
27 October 1996
Toulon 44 – 10 Connacht Stade Félix Mayol

2 November 1996
Connacht 30 – 18 Orrell The Sports Ground
2 November 1996
Dunvant 8 – 31 Toulon Broadacre
2 November 1996
Petrarca Rugby 9 – 29 Northampton Saints Stadio Plebiscito

Pool 4

Team P W D L Tries for Tries against Try diff Points for Points against Points diff Pts
Bourgoin 5 5 0 0 27 4 +23 196 66 +130 10
Bordeaux-Begles 5 3 1 1 29 13 +16 195 99 +96 7
Swansea 5 3 1 1 28 19 +9 207 138 +69 7
Gloucester 5 2 0 3 17 17 0 119 123 −4 4
Ebbw Vale 5 1 0 4 6 36 −30 48 243 −195 2
London Irish 5 0 0 5 12 30 −18 90 186 −96 0
12 October 1996
Bourgoin 45 – 22 Bordeaux- Begles Stade Pierre Rajon
12 October 1996
Gloucester 59 – 7 Ebbw Vale Kingsholm
12 October 1996
Swansea 63 – 38 London Irish St Helen's

16 October 1996
Ebbw Vale 3 – 32 Swansea Eugene Cross Park
16 October 1996
Gloucester 10 – 17 Bordeaux-Begles Kingsholm
16 October 1996
London Irish 13 – 34 Bourgoin The Avenue

19 October 1996
Bordeaux-Begles 32 – 6 London Irish Stade Andre Moga
19 October 1996
Bourgoin 39 – 3 Ebbw Vale Stade Pierre Rajon
19 October 1996
Swansea 62 – 12 Gloucester St Helen's

26 October 1996
Ebbw Vale 28 – 20 London Irish Eugene Cross Park
26 October 1996
Swansea 31 – 31 Bordeaux-Begles St Helen's
27 October 1996
Gloucester 9 – 24 Bourgoin Kingsholm

2 November 1996
London Irish 13 – 29 Gloucester The Avenue
2 November 1996
Bordeaux-Begles 93 – 7 Ebbw Vale Stade Andre Moga
2 November 1996
Bourgoin 54 – 19 Swansea Stade Pierre Rajon

Qualifiers

Seed Pool Winners Pts TF +/−
1 Castres Olympique 10 29 +136
2 Northampton Saints 10 28 +119
3 Bourgoin 10 27 +130
4 Agen 10 20 +74
Runners-up
5 Montferrand 8 30 +137
6 Toulon 8 22 +62
7 Narbonne 8 21 +71
8 Bordeaux-Begles 7 29 +96

See also

References