2008–09 Heineken Cup pool stage explained

See main article: article and 2008-09 Heineken Cup. The pool stage of the 2008–09 Heineken Cup began on 10 October 2008, with the final match played on 25 January 2009. This was the first year for which qualified teams were seeded for the group stage.

Ranking system

The 24 teams were ranked according to previous progress in the Heineken Cup, with teams from the same tier and same country being placed in separate pools. The brackets show each team's ERC Ranking before the start of the 2008–2009 season.

width=6%Tier 1width=15% Munster (1)width=15% Toulouse (2)width=15% Biarritz (3)width=15% Leicester Tigers (4)width=15% Stade Français (5)width=15% London Wasps (6)
Tier 2 Leinster (7) Bath (8) Gloucester (9) Perpignan (10) Sale Sharks (12) Scarlets (13)
Tier 3 Ospreys (15) Cardiff Blues (17) Clermont (18) Newport Gwent Dragons (20) Ulster (21) Castres (22)
Tier 4 Glasgow Warriors (24) Benetton Treviso (25) Edinburgh (28) Calvisano (32) Harlequins (35) Montauban

The draw for the pool stage took place on 17 June 2008 in Dublin.[1]

Pool stage

The draw for the pool stages took place on 17 June 2008 in Dublin.

Key to colours
    Winner of each pool,
advance to quarterfinals. Seed # in parentheses
    Two highest-scoring second-place teams,
advance to quarterfinals. Seed # in parentheses

Pool 1

TeamPWDLTries forTries againstTry diffPoints forPoints againstPoints diffTBLBPts
Munster (2)65011861216198632123
Sale630314113136115212115
Clermont63031413113712981013
Montauban6105521-1681173-92026

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Pool 2

TeamPWDLTries forTries againstTry diffPoints forPoints againstPoints diffTBLBPts
Leinster (6)64021531214070702220
Wasps6402912-311411220117
Edinburgh620488091103-12109
Castres6204615-973133-60019

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Pool 3

TeamPWDLTries forTries againstTry diffPoints forPoints againstPoints diffTBLBPts
Leicester Tigers (4)640223617191901013221
Ospreys (7)64021731415571842220
Perpignan640217107154120341118
Benetton Treviso6006543-3872291-219000

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Pool 4

TeamPWDLTries forTries againstTry diffPoints forPoints againstPoints diffTBLBPts
Harlequins (3)650116124144115292022
Stade Français630313112131109221215
Ulster621313130113134-210111
Scarlets61141218-6124154-30028

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Pool 5

TeamPWDLTries forTries againstTry diffPoints forPoints againstPoints diffTBLBPts
Bath (5)6411138510792152121
Toulouse (8)6411128412188331120
Glasgow62041417-3134150-161312
Newport Gwent Dragons6105814-683115-32037

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Pool 6

TeamPWDLTries forTries againstTry diffPoints forPoints againstPoints diffTBLBPts
Cardiff Blues (1)660023914202991033027
Biarritz63031441012188331215
Gloucester630317125156109472115
Calvisano6006837-2987270-183000

Notes:

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Seeding and runners-up

The winners of each of the six pools are seeded 1 to 6 first by points, then tries scored, and finally score difference. The runners-up are similarly sorted, and the best two are seeded seven and eight and progress to the quarter-finals alongside the six winners. The top four seeds are given home matches in the quarter-finals, with seed 1 playing seed 8, seed 2 playing seed 7 etc.

SeedPool winnersPtsTF+/-
1 Cardiff Blues2723+103
2 Munster2318+63
3 Harlequins2216+29
4 Leicester Tigers2123+101
5 Bath2113+15
6 Leinster2015+70
SeedPool runners-upPtsTF+/-
7 Ospreys2017+84
8 Toulouse2012+33
- Wasps177+8
- Biarritz1514+33
- Sale1514+21
- Stade Français1513+22

External links

Notes and References

  1. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/7450881.stm BBC SPORT | Rugby Union | Heineken Cup draw - full details
  2. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/7834619.stm Munster 37-14 Sale
  3. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/7822263.stm Scarlets 31-17 Stade Francais
  4. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/7823023.stm Gloucester 12 - Cardiff 16