2002–03 Heineken Cup Explained

2002–03 Heineken Cup
Countries:	France Ireland Italy
Tournament Format:	Round-robin and Knockout
Date:	11 October 2002 – 24 May 2003
Teams:	24
Matches:	79
Attendance:	704782
Top Point Scorer:	Stephen Jones (Llanelli) (107 points)
Top Try Scorer:	Vincent Clerc (Toulouse) Garan Evans (Llanelli) (7 tries)
Venue:	Lansdowne Road, Dublin
Attendance2:	28,600
Champions:	Toulouse
Count:	2
Runner-Up:	Perpignan
Website:	https://web.archive.org/web/20080506141030/http://www.ercrugby.com/eng/
Previous Year:	2001–02
Previous Tournament:	2001–02 Heineken Cup
Next Year:	2003–04
Next Tournament:	2003–04 Heineken Cup

The 2002–03 Heineken Cup was the eighth edition of the Heineken Cup. Competing teams from France, Ireland, Italy, Wales, England and Scotland, were divided into six pools of four, in which teams played home and away matches against each other. The pool winners and two best runners-up qualified for the knock-out stages.

Pool stage

In the pool matches teams received

• 2 points for a win
• 1 points for a draw

Pool 1

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	Pts
Leicester Tigers	6	5	1	0	31	6	25	232	71	161	11
Neath	6	2	1	3	18	12	6	151	139	12	5
L'Amatori & Calvisano	6	2	0	4	10	34	−24	105	236	−131	4
Béziers	6	2	0	4	8	15	−7	109	151	−42	4

Pool 2

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	Pts
Perpignan	6	4	0	2	23	16	7	176	156	20	8
Munster	6	4	0	2	27	14	13	206	107	99	8
Gloucester	6	4	0	2	31	14	17	241	140	101	8
Arix Viadana	6	0	0	6	15	52	−37	128	348	−220	0

Pool 3

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	Pts
Llanelli	6	5	0	1	22	16	6	201	130	71	10
Bourgoin	6	4	0	2	21	14	7	190	142	48	8
Glasgow Rugby	6	2	0	4	9	23	−14	86	185	−99	4
Sale Sharks	6	1	0	5	16	15	1	123	143	−20	2

Pool 4

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	Pts
Leinster	6	6	0	0	22	7	15	188	93	95	12
Bristol Shoguns	6	3	0	3	15	17	−2	149	144	5	6
Montferrand	6	2	0	4	15	8	7	141	120	21	4
Swansea	6	1	0	5	8	28	−20	109	230	−121	2

Pool 5

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	Pts
Toulouse	6	5	0	1	29	9	20	241	118	123	10
London Irish	6	3	0	3	12	13	−1	158	118	40	6
Edinburgh Rugby	6	2	0	4	15	19	−4	125	188	−63	4
Newport	6	2	0	4	11	26	−15	117	217	−100	4

Pool 6

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	Pts
Northampton Saints	6	4	0	2	21	10	11	172	110	62	8
Biarritz Olympique	6	4	0	2	14	5	9	138	73	65	8
Ulster	6	4	0	2	8	8	0	116	106	10	8
	6	0	0	6	6	26	−20	78	215	−137	0

Seeding

Seed	Pool Winners	Pts	TF	+/−
1		12	22	+95
2	Leicester Tigers	11	31	+161
3	Toulouse	10	29	+123
4	Llanelli	10	22	+71
5	Perpignan	8	31	+101
6	Northampton Saints	8	21	+62
Seed	Pool Runners-up	Pts	TF	+/−
7	Munster	8	27	+99
8	Biarritz Olympique	8	14	+65
–	Bourgoin	8	21	+48
–	Bristol Shoguns	6	15	+5
–	London Irish	6	12	+40
–	Neath	5	18	+12

Knockout stage

Final

See main article: 2003 Heineken Cup Final.

Toulouse became the second team to win the competition more than once.