The 2006–07 Heineken Cup was the 12th edition of the European
Heineken Cup
The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Heineken Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...
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
Twickenham is a suburban district in London, England. It is situated on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames since 1965, and the boroug ...
in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
.
London Wasps
Wasps Rugby Football Club is a professional rugby union team. They last played in Premiership Rugby, the top division of English rugby until being suspended on 12 October 2022. On 17 October 2022 the club entered administration, resulting in r ...
defeated
Leicester Tigers
Leicester Tigers (officially Leicester Football Club) are a professional rugby union club based in Leicester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby.
The club was founded in 1880 and since 1892 plays its hom ...
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
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
(pool 2),
Sale Sharks
Sale Sharks is a professional rugby union club from Greater Manchester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby.
Originally founded in 1861 as Sale Football Club, now a distinct amateur club, they adopted the n ...
(pool 3),
Cardiff Blues
Cardiff Rugby ( cy, Rygbi Caerdydd) are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and in European Professional Club Rugby competitions.
Based in Cardiff, the team play at Cardiff Arms ...
(pool 4),
Ulster
Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United King ...
(pool 5) and
Biarritz
Biarritz ( , , , ; Basque also ; oc, Biàrritz ) is a city on the Bay of Biscay, on the Atlantic coast in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the French Basque Country in southwestern France. It is located from the border with Spain. ...
(pool 6). Rules state that no two sides from the same country could be allocated the same pool. However, the seventh French club
Castres
Castres (; ''Castras'' in the Languedocian dialect, Languedocian dialect of Occitan language, Occitan) is the sole Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Tarn (department), Tarn Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administ ...
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
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:
# ''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.
# ''Tries scored in head-to-head matches.''
# ''Point difference in head-to-head matches.''
# ''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.
# ''Point difference in all pool matches.''
# ''Best disciplinary record in pool play.'' The team with the fewest players sent off or sin-binned during pool play wins.
# ''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.''
:
Pool 1
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
Pool 3
Pool 4
Notes:
*Leicester Tigers win the pool on the second tiebreaker of head-to-head tries, 3–2.
Pool 5
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
Bath may refer to:
* Bathing, immersion in a fluid
** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body
** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe
* Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities
Plac ...
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
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
Knockout stage
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
References
*Venues and attendances
Heineken Cup 2006–07 Fixtures & Results (pool stages). European Rugby Cup. Accessed 22 January 2007.
*Referees
Heineken Cup 2006–07 Match Officials (pool stages).European Rugby Cup. Accessed 22 January 2007.
External links
ERCrugby.comDetails of the draw
{{DEFAULTSORT:2006-07 Heineken Cup
Heineken Cup seasons
Heneiken
Heneiken
Heneiken
Heneiken
Heneiken
Heneiken