See main article: 2007–08 European Challenge Cup. The 2007–08 European Challenge Cup pool stage was the opening stage of the 12th season of the European Challenge Cup, the second-tier competition for European rugby union clubs. It began on 8 November 2007 when Sale Sharks hosted Montpellier and ended with the Newcastle Falcons / El Salvador game on 20 January 2008.
Twenty teams participated in this phase of the competition; they were divided into five pools of four teams each, with each team playing the others home and away.[1] Competition points were earned using the standard bonus point system. The five pool winners and the best three runners-up advanced to the knockout stage. These teams then competed in a single-elimination tournament that ended with the final at Kingsholm Stadium in Gloucester on 25 May 2008.
All times are local to the game location.
| Winner of each pool, advance to quarterfinals. Seed # in parentheses | ||
| Three highest-scoring second-place teams advance to quarterfinals. Seed # in parentheses |
| Team | P | W | D | L | Tries for | Tries against | Try diff | Points for | Points against | Points diff | TB | LB | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bath Rugby (2) | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 28 | 6 | +22 | 203 | 65 | +138 | 5 | 0 | 29 | |
 Auch | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 11 | 19 | -8 | 109 | 147 | -38 | 1 | 1 | 14 | |
| Albi | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 15 | 21 | -6 | 130 | 177 | -47 | 1 | 2 | 11 | |
 Overmach Parma | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 10 | 18 | -8 | 104 | 157 | -53 | 0 | 3 | 7 |
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| Team | P | W | D | L | Tries for | Tries against | Try diff | Points for | Points against | Points diff | TB | LB | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Worcester Warriors (1) | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 36 | 6 | +30 | 245 | 49 | +196 | 5 | 0 | 29 | |
| Montauban | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 28 | 12 | +16 | 175 | 113 | +62 | 3 | 1 | 16 | |
| București | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 22 | -15 | 77 | 158 | -81 | 0 | 0 | 10 | |
| Gran Parma | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 38 | -31 | 82 | 259 | -177 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Team | P | W | D | L | Tries for | Tries against | Try diff | Points for | Points against | Points diff | TB | LB | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Newcastle Falcons (4) | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 34 | 3 | +31 | 264 | 57 | +207 | 3 | 1 | 24 | |
| Brive (6) | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 21 | 5 | +16 | 179 | 73 | +106 | 3 | 2 | 20 | |
 Connacht | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 25 | 10 | +15 | 172 | 97 | +75 | 2 | 1 | 15 | |
 El Salvador | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 65 | -62 | 26 | 414 | -388 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Team | P | W | D | L | Tries for | Tries against | Try diff | Points for | Points against | Points diff | TB | LB | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sale Sharks (3) | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 34 | 8 | +26 | 244 | 62 | +182 | 5 | 0 | 27 | |
| Montpellier (8) | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 14 | -2 | 114 | 115 | -1 | 1 | 0 | 19 | |
| Bayonne | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 16 | 20 | -4 | 100 | 164 | -64 | 2 | 2 | 8 | |
| Petrarca Padova | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 27 | -20 | 73 | 190 | -117 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| Team | P | W | D | L | Tries for | Tries against | Try diff | Points for | Points against | Points diff | TB | LB | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Castres Olympique (5) | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 19 | 12 | +7 | 160 | 105 | +55 | 1 | 0 | 21 | |
| Leeds Carnegie (7) | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 18 | 10 | +8 | 157 | 101 | +56 | 2 | 1 | 19 | |
| Calvisano | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 13 | 29 | -16 | 123 | 200 | -77 | 1 | 0 | 9 | |
| Dax | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 15 | 14 | +1 | 109 | 143 | -34 | 1 | 3 | 7 |
| Seed | Pool Winners | Pts | TF | +/- | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Worcester Warriors | 29 | 36 | +196 | |
| 2 | Bath | 29 | 28 | +138 | |
| 3 | Sale Sharks | 27 | 34 | +182 | |
| 4 | Newcastle Falcons | 24 | 34 | +207 | |
| 5 | Castres Olympique | 21 | 19 | +55 | |
| Seed | Pool Runners-up | Pts | TF | +/- | |
| 6 | 20 | 21 | +106 | ||
| 7 | Leeds Carnegie | 19 | 18 | +56 | |
| 8 | 19 | 12 | -1 | ||
| – | Montauban | 16 | 28 | +62 | |
| – | Auch | 14 | 11 | -38 |