The 2012–13 Heineken Cup pool stage was the first stage of the 18th season of the
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 ...
, Europe's top competition for
rugby union
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...
clubs. It involved 24 teams competing for eight quarter-final berths, awarded to the winners of each of six pools plus the two top-ranked second-place teams. The next three best runners-up were parachuted into the
Amlin Challenge Cup
The EPCR Challenge Cup is an annual rugby union competition organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the second-tier competition for clubs based in European leagues behind the European Rugby Champions Cup. From its inception ...
.
The pool stage began with two matches on 12 October 2012 and ended on 20 January 2013. The first four rounds of fixtures were released on 26 July 2012.
The quarter-finalists then participated in a knockout tournament that ultimately ended with the final on Saturday 18 May 2013 at
Aviva Stadium
Aviva Stadium (also known as Lansdowne Road) is a sports stadium located in Dublin, Ireland, with a capacity for 51,700 spectators (all seated). It is built on the site of the former Lansdowne Road Stadium, which was demolished in 2007, and r ...
in
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
.
Seeding
The seeding system was the same as in the
2011–12 tournament. The 24 competing teams were ranked based on past Heineken Cup and European Challenge Cup performance, with each pool receiving one team from each quartile, or Tier. The requirement to have only one team per country in each pool, however, still applied (with the exception of the inclusion of the seventh French team).
The brackets show each team's
European Rugby Club Ranking at the end of the 2011–12 season.
Pool stage
The draw for the pool stage took place on 12 June 2012 at Aviva Stadium.
Under rules of the competition organiser,
European Rugby Cup
European Rugby Cup Ltd (or ERC) was the governing body and organiser of the two major European rugby union club tournaments; the Heineken Cup and the Amlin Challenge Cup. It was replaced by the European Professional Club Rugby governing body in 2 ...
, tiebreakers within each pool are as follows.
* 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
All kickoff times are local to the match location.
Pool 1
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Pool 2
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Pool 3
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Pool 4
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Pool 5
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Pool 6
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See also
*
2012–13 Heineken Cup The 2012–13 Heineken Cup was the 18th season of the Heineken Cup, the annual rugby union European club competition for clubs from the top six nations in European rugby. The tournament began with two pool matches on 12 October 2012 and ended with t ...
References
External links
Official ERC website
{{DEFAULTSORT:2012-13 Heineken Cup pool stage
Pool Stage
Heineken Cup pool stages