2010–11 Heineken Cup Explained

2010–11 Heineken Cup
Countries:	France Ireland Italy
Tournament Format:	Round-robin and Knockout
Date:	8 October 2010 – 21 May 2011
Teams:	24
Matches:	79
Attendance:	1139427
Top Point Scorer:	Johnny Sexton (Leinster) (138 points)
Top Try Scorer:	Paul Diggin (Northampton) (6 tries)
Venue:	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
Attendance2:	72,456
Champions:	Leinster
Count:	2
Runner-Up:	Northampton
Website:	https://web.archive.org/web/20080506141030/http://www.ercrugby.com/eng/
Previous Year:	2009–10
Previous Tournament:	2009–10 Heineken Cup
Next Year:	2011–12
Next Tournament:	2011–12 Heineken Cup

The 2010–11 Heineken Cup was the 16th season of the Heineken Cup, the annual rugby union European club competition for clubs from the top six nations in European rugby. It started with three matches on 8 October 2010 and ended on 21 May 2011 with the final at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium^[1] where Leinster beat Northampton Saints 33 – 22.^{[2] [3]}

Teams

The default allocation of teams is as follows:

• England: 6 teams, based on performance in the Aviva Premiership and Anglo-Welsh Cup
• France: 6 teams, based on regular-season finish in the Top 14
• Ireland and Wales: 3 teams each, based on regular-season finish in the Celtic League
• Italy and Scotland: 2 teams each, based on participation in the Celtic League

The remaining two places are filled by the winners of the previous year's Heineken Cup and Amlin Challenge Cup. If the cup winners are already qualified through their domestic league, an additional team from their country will claim a Heineken Cup place (assuming another team is available). The only exception is when teams from England or France win both cups, which did not happen in 2009–10.

Because 2010 Heineken Cup winners Toulouse were already qualified for this season's Heineken Cup by virtue of their fourth-place regular-season finish in the 2009–10 Top 14, the extra place for France went to seventh-placed Biarritz (who were also Toulouse's defeated opponent in the Heineken Cup Final). Because Amlin Challenge Cup winners Cardiff Blues were already qualified for the Heineken Cup by finishing second among the four Welsh teams in the 2009–10 Celtic League, the extra Welsh place went to the lowest-placed Welsh team in the league, Scarlets.

width=16%	England	width=16%	France	width=16%	Wales	width=16%	Ireland	width=16%	Italy	width=16%	Scotland
Leicester Tigers London Wasps Northampton Saints Bath London Irish Saracens	Toulouse Biarritz Clermont Perpignan Castres Toulon Racing Métro	Cardiff Blues Ospreys Scarlets Newport Gwent Dragons	Munster Leinster Ulster	Benetton Treviso Aironi	Glasgow Warriors Edinburgh

Seeding

The seeding system was the same as in the 2009–10 tournament. The 24 competing teams are ranked based on past Heineken Cup and European Challenge Cup performance, with each pool receiving one team from each quartile, or Tier.^[4] The requirement to have only one team per country in each pool, however, still applies (with the exception of the inclusion of the seventh French team).^[5]

The brackets show each team's European Rugby Club Ranking at the end of the 2009–10 season. Aironi inherited the ranking of Viadana, the principal shareholders in the new Celtic League team.

width=6%	Tier 1	width=15%	Munster (1)	width=15%	Toulouse (2)	width=15%	Leinster (3)	width=15%	Leicester Tigers (4)	width=15%	Biarritz (5)	width=15%	Cardiff Blues (6)
Tier 2	London Wasps (7)	Clermont (9)	Ospreys (10)	Northampton Saints (11)	Bath (12)	Scarlets (13)
Tier 3	Perpignan (15)	London Irish (16)	Saracens (17)	Ulster (19)	Glasgow Warriors (21)	Edinburgh (23)
Tier 4	Newport Gwent Dragons (24)	Benetton Treviso (28)	Castres (29)	Toulon (30)	Aironi (34)	Racing Métro (40)

Pool stage

The draw for the pool stage took place on 8 June 2010.

Under rules of the competition organiser, European Rugby Cup, tiebreakers within each pool are as follows.^[6]

• Competition points earned in head-to-head matches
• Total tries scored in head-to-head matches
• Point differential in head-to-head matches

ERC has four additional tiebreakers, used if tied teams are in different pools, or if the above steps cannot break a tie between teams in the same pool:

• Tries scored in all pool matches
• Point differential in all pool matches
• Best disciplinary record (fewest players receiving red or yellow cards in all pool matches)
• Coin toss

Key to colours

	Winner of each pool, and best two pool runners-up, advance to quarter-finals. Seed # in parentheses
	Third- through fifth- highest-scoring second-place teams parachute into the knockout stage of the European Challenge Cup. Seed # in brackets

Pool 1

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	TB	LB	Pts
Northampton Saints (1)	6	6	0	0	16	7	+9	155	87	+68	1	0	25
Cardiff Blues	6	3	0	3	6	8	−2	107	113	−6	0	2	14
Castres	6	2	0	4	10	12	−2	105	115	−10	0	3	11
Edinburgh	6	1	0	5	10	15	−5	98	150	−52	0	4	8

Pool 2

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	TB	LB	Pts
Leinster (2)	6	5	0	1	21	9	+12	179	104	+75	3	1	24
Clermont [6]	6	4	0	2	14	9	+5	114	94	+20	2	1	19
Racing Métro	6	2	0	4	9	17	−8	104	151	−47	0	1	9
Saracens	6	1	0	5	9	18	−9	107	155	−48	0	2	6

Pool 3

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	TB	LB	Pts
Toulon (6)	6	4	0	2	13	13	0	143	134	+9	1	0	17
Munster [7]	6	3	0	3	17	9	+8	143	122	+21	2	2	16
Ospreys	6	3	0	3	7	11	−4	117	113	+4	0	2	14
London Irish	6	2	0	4	9	13	−4	107	141	−34	0	1	9

Pool 4

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	TB	LB	Pts
Biarritz (4)	6	4	0	2	16	9	+7	140	85	+55	4	2	22
Ulster (8)	6	5	0	1	15	8	+7	145	93	+52	2	0	22
Bath	6	2	0	4	20	8	+12	147	108	+39	2	4	14
Aironi	6	1	0	5	4	30	−26	65	211	−146	0	0	4

Pool 5

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	TB	LB	Pts
Perpignan (3)	6	4	1	1	23	9	+14	196	112	+84	4	0	22
Leicester Tigers (7)	6	4	1	1	25	10	+15	215	118	+97	3	1	22
Scarlets	6	3	0	3	16	24	−8	149	191	−42	3	0	15
Benetton Treviso	6	0	0	6	11	32	−21	109	248	−139	0	1	1

Pool 6

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	TB	LB	Pts
Toulouse (5)	6	5	0	1	15	6	+10	155	85	+70	1	1	22
London Wasps [5]	6	4	0	2	15	6	+8	145	106	+59	2	1	19
Glasgow Warriors	6	3	0	3	10	15	−5	116	141	−25	0	0	12
Newport Gwent Dragons	6	0	0	6	5	18	−13	77	161	−84	0	2	2

Seeding and runners-up

• Bare numbers indicate Heineken Cup quarterfinal seeding.
• Numbers with "C" indicate Challenge Cup quarterfinal seeding.

Seed	Pool Winners	Pts	TF	+/−
1	Northampton Saints	25	16	+68
2	Leinster	24	21	+75
3	Perpignan	22	23	+84
4	Biarritz	22	16	+55
5	Toulouse	22	15	+70
6	Toulon	17	11	+21
Seed	Pool Runners-up	Pts	TF	+/−
7	Leicester Tigers	22	25	+97
8	Ulster	22	15	+52
5C	London Wasps	19	15	+39
6C	Clermont	19	14	+20
7C	Munster	16	17	+21
–	Cardiff Blues	14	6	−6

Knockout stage

The semi-final draw for both the Heineken Cup and Amlin Challenge Cup was conducted on 23 January at the press box of Adams Park in High Wycombe shortly after the London Wasps–Toulouse match.

All times are local times.

Quarter-finals

------------

Semi-finals

----

Final

See main article: 2011 Heineken Cup Final.

Individual statistics

Top points scorers

Final Standings(correct as of 21 May 2011)

Pos	Player	Team	Points
1			138
2			101
3			94
4			86
5			80
6			72
7			71
8			70
			70
10			67

^[7]

Top try scorers

Final Standings(Correct as of 21 May 2011)

Pos	Player	Team	Tries
1			6
2			5
			5
			5
			5
			5
			5
8			4
			4
			4
			4
			4

^[8]

See also

2010–11 Amlin Challenge Cup

External links

• Official ERC website

Notes and References

1. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/welsh/8686218.stm BBC Sport
2. Web site: Shock turns to awe as Leinster join immortals. 22 May 2011. Irish Independent. 24 May 2011.
3. News: Lions of Leinster perform miracle with belated roar . The Irish Times . Frank . McNally.
4. Web site: ERC European Rankings (May 2009) . European Rugby Cup . 15 May 2009 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080506141030/http://www.ercrugby.com/eng/121_9900.php . 6 May 2008 . dead .
5. Web site: ERC Draw Regulations (May 2009) . European Rugby Cup . 15 May 2009 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20080620091737/http://www.ercrugby.com/eng/12_10454.php . June 20, 2008 .
6. Web site: Key Tournament Rules . European Rugby Cup . 2010-10-10 . https://web.archive.org/web/20101008183601/http://www.ercrugby.com/eng/heinekencup/rules/index.php . 8 October 2010 . dead .
7. News: Points . itsrugby.co.uk . 2010-12-30.
8. News: Tries . itsrugby.co.uk . 2010-12-30.