2006–07 Heineken Cup

2006–07 Heineken Cup
Tournament details
Countries	England  France  Ireland  Italy  Scotland  Wales
Tournament format(s)	Round-robin and Knockout
Date	20 October 2006 – 20 May 2007
Tournament statistics
Teams	24
Matches played	79
Attendance	914,048 (11,570 per match)
Top point scorer(s)	Andy Goode (Leicester) (89 points)
Top try scorer(s)	Clément Poitrenaud (Toulouse) Paul Sackey (Wasps) (7 tries)
Final
Venue	Twickenham Stadium, London
Attendance	81,076
Champions	London Wasps (2nd title)
Runner-up	Leicester Tigers

The 2006–07 Heineken Cup was the 12th edition of the European Heineken Cup rugby union club tournament. The pool draw took place on 21 June 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.

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.

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.

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

Pool 1

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	TB	LB	Pts
London Wasps (3)	6	5	0	1	23	5	18	195	64	131	2	1	23
Perpignan	6	4	0	2	19	9	10	161	108	53	2	0	18
Castres	6	3	0	3	17	13	4	146	136	10	2	2	16
Benetton Treviso	6	0	0	6	11	43	−32	83	277	−194	0	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.

Pool 2

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	TB	LB	Pts
Leinster (6)	6	4	0	2	21	10	11	174	97	77	3	2	21
Agen	6	4	0	2	12	14	−2	119	119	0	1	0	17
Gloucester	6	3	0	3	19	16	3	152	144	8	2	1	15
Edinburgh	6	1	0	5	10	22	−12	95	180	−85	0	1	5

Pool 3

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	TB	LB	Pts
Stade Français (5)	6	4	1	1	20	5	15	174	80	94	3	1	22
Ospreys	6	4	1	1	19	8	11	147	108	39	2	0	20
Sale Sharks	6	3	0	3	16	10	6	147	90	57	2	1	15
Calvisano	6	0	0	6	6	38	−32	74	264	−190	0	0	0

Pool 4

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	TB	LB	Pts
Leicester Tigers (4)	6	5	0	1	22	6	16	172	60	112	2	1	23
Munster (7)	6	5	0	1	16	11	5	152	112	40	2	1	23
Cardiff Blues	6	2	0	4	8	18	−10	87	138	−51	0	1	9
Bourgoin	6	0	0	6	13	24	−11	95	196	−101	2	2	4

Notes:

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

Pool 5

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	TB	LB	Pts
Llanelli Scarlets (2)	6	6	0	0	20	12	8	169	120	49	3	0	27
Toulouse	6	3	0	3	18	17	1	147	145	2	3	2	17
Ulster	6	2	0	4	10	15	−5	111	129	−18	1	1	10
London Irish	6	1	0	5	15	19	−4	124	157	−33	2	3	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.

Pool 6

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	TB	LB	Pts
Biarritz (1)	6	6	0	0	29	5	24	186	45	141	5	0	29
Northampton Saints (8)	6	4	0	2	27	13	14	188	92	96	4	0	20
Border Reivers	6	1	0	5	15	23	−8	121	166	−45	2	0	6
Parma	6	1	0	5	9	39	−30	79	271	−192	1	0	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.

Seeding and runners-up

Seed	Pool Winners	Pts	TF	+/−
1	Biarritz	29	29	+141
2	Llanelli Scarlets	27	20	+49
3	London Wasps	23	23	+131
4	Leicester Tigers	23	22	+112
5	Stade Français	22	20	+94
6	Leinster	21	21	+77
Seed	Pool Runners-up	Pts	TF	+/−
7	Munster	23	22	+112
8	Northampton Saints	20	27	+96
–	Ospreys	20	19	+39
–	Perpignan	18	19	+53
–	Toulouse	17	18	−2
–	Agen	17	12	0

Knockout stage

Quarter-finals

30 March 2007 19:30

Llanelli Scarlets	24 – 15	Munster
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'

Stradey Park, Llanelli Attendance: 10,800 Referee: Chris White (England)

31 March 2007 17:45

London Wasps	35 – 13	Leinster
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'

Adams Park, High Wycombe Attendance: 10,000 Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)

1 April 2007 14:00

Biarritz Olympique	6 – 7	Northampton Saints
Pen: Yachvili (2) 40', 61'	Report	Try: Kydd 66' c Con: Spencer

Estadio Anoeta, Donostia-San Sebastián Attendance: 32,000 Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)

1 April 2007 15:30

Leicester Tigers	21 – 20	Stade Français
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'

Welford Road, Leicester Attendance: 16,815 Referee: Alan Lewis (Ireland)

Semi-finals

21 April 2007 15:00

Leicester Tigers	33 – 17	Llanelli Scarlets
Tries: Goode 34' c Jennings 52' c L. Deacon 75' c Con: Goode (3) Pen: Goode (4) 2', 5', 22', 63'	Report	Tries: M. Jones 37' c Rees 50' c Con: S. Jones (2) Pen: S. Jones 10'

Walkers Stadium, Leicester Attendance: 30,121 Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)

22 April 2007 15:00

Northampton Saints	13 – 30	London Wasps
Try: Reihana 3' c Con: Reihana Pen: Reihana (2) 13', 17'	Report	Tries: Sackey 34' m, 70' c Haskell 60' m Lewsey 77' c Con: Gisbergen (2) Pen: Gisbergen (2) 28', 50'

Ricoh Arena, Coventry Attendance: 18,500 Referee: Alan Lewis (Ireland)

Final

20 May 2007 15:00

Leicester Tigers	9 – 25	London Wasps
Pen: Goode (3) 7', 15', 38'	Report	Tries: Reddan 13' m Ibañez 34' m Pen: King (4) 4', 42', 49', 73' Drop: King 54'

Twickenham Stadium, London Attendance: 81,076 Referee: Alan Lewis (Ireland)

Wasps celebrate after their win in 2007

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.

External links

• ERCrugby.com
• Details of the draw