2006–07 Heineken Cup
Tournament details
Countries England
 France
 Ireland
 Italy
 Scotland
 Wales
Tournament format(s)Round-robin and Knockout
Date20 October 2006 – 20 May 2007
Tournament statistics
Teams24
Matches played79
Attendance914,048 (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
VenueTwickenham Stadium, London
Attendance81,076
ChampionsEngland London Wasps (2nd title)
Runners-upEngland 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 21 June. 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
England London Wasps (3) 650123518195641312123
France Perpignan 640219910161108532018
France Castres 630317134146136102216
Italy Benetton Treviso 60061143−3283277−194000

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
Ireland Leinster (6) 640221101117497773221
France Agen 64021214−211911901017
England Gloucester 63031916315214482115
Scotland Edinburgh 61051022−1295180−85015

Pool 3

Team P W D L Tries for Tries against Try diff Points for Points against Points diff TB LB Pts
France Stade Français (5) 64112051517480943122
Wales Ospreys 641119811147108392020
England Sale Sharks 63031610614790572115
Italy Calvisano 6006638−3274264−190000

Pool 4

Team P W D L Tries for Tries against Try diff Points for Points against Points diff TB LB Pts
England Leicester Tigers (4) 650122616172601122123
Ireland Munster (7) 650116115152112402123
Wales Cardiff Blues 6204818−1087138−51019
France Bourgoin 60061324−1195196−101224

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
Wales Llanelli Scarlets (2) 660020128169120493027
France Toulouse 63031817114714523217
Ireland Ulster 62041015−5111129−181110
England London Irish 61051519−4124157−33239

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
France Biarritz (1) 660029524186451415029
England Northampton Saints (8) 640227131418892964020
Scotland Border Reivers 61051523−8121166−45206
Italy Parma 6105939−3079271−192105

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 France Biarritz 2929+141
2 Wales Llanelli Scarlets 2720+49
3 England London Wasps 2323+131
4 England Leicester Tigers 2322+112
5 France Stade Français 2220+94
6 Ireland Leinster 2121+77
Seed Pool runners-up Pts TF +/−
7 Ireland Munster 2322+112
8 England Northampton Saints 2027+96
Wales Ospreys 2019+39
France Perpignan 1819+53
France Toulouse 1718−2
France Agen 17120

Knockout stage

Quarter-finals

30 March 2007
19:30
Llanelli Scarlets Wales24–15Ireland Munster
Tries: James 5' c
G. Thomas 40' c
B. Davies 73' c
Con: S. Jones (3)
Pen: B. Davies 37'
ReportTries: 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 England35–13Ireland Leinster
Tries: Reddan (2) 33' c, 66' c
Haskell 42' c
Cipriani 50' m
Con: King (3)
Pen: King (3) 3', 12', 63'
ReportTry: 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 France6–7England Northampton Saints
Pen: Yachvili (2) 40', 61'ReportTry: Kydd 66' c
Con: Spencer
Estadio Anoeta, Donostia-San Sebastián
Attendance: 32,000
Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)
1 April 2007
15:30
Leicester Tigers England21–20France Stade Français
Tries: Rabeni 3' m
Varndell 72' c
Con: Goode
Pen: Goode (3) 24', 26', 52'
ReportTry: 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 England33–17Wales Llanelli Scarlets
Tries: Goode 34' c
Jennings 52' c
L. Deacon 75' c
Con: Goode (3)
Pen: Goode (4) 2', 5', 22', 63'
ReportTries: 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 England13–30England London Wasps
Try: Reihana 3' c
Con: Reihana
Pen: Reihana (2) 13', 17'
ReportTries: 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 England9–25England London Wasps
Pen: Goode (3) 7', 15', 38'ReportTries: 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

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