The 1996–97 Heineken Cup was the second edition 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 pr ...

, an international competition for the top European

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. Competing teams from France,

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

, Italy,

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in 2 ...

and, for the first time, England and

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

, were divided into four pools of five, with each team playing the other teams once, meaning two home and two away games per team. The pool winners and runners-up qualified for the knock-out stages. The competition was won by a French team for the second time, when

Brive Brive-la-Gaillarde (; Limousin dialect of oc, Briva la Galharda) is a commune of France. It is a sub-prefecture and the largest city of the Corrèze department. It has around 46,000 inhabitants, while the population of the agglomeration was ...

beat their English opponents

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 ho ...

28–9 at the

Cardiff Arms Park Cardiff Arms Park ( cy, Parc yr Arfau Caerdydd), also known as The Arms Park, is situated in the centre of Cardiff, Wales. It is primarily known as a rugby union stadium, but it also has a bowling green. The Arms Park was host to the British E ...

. The defending champions

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

were knocked out in the semi-final by Leicester Tigers and Brive beat Cardiff in the other semi-final.

Teams

The qualifying teams were drawn from six countries. Generally, these were the strongest teams from the top division of domestic rugby; weaker teams participated in the

Challenge Cup The Challenge Cup is a knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, with the exception of 1915–1919 and 1939–1940, due to World War I and World War II respectively. It involves a ...

: * England: 4 teams from the English Premiership * France: 4 teams from the

French Championship The French rugby league championship (french: Le Championnat de France de Rugby à XIII) has been the major rugby league tournament for semi-professional and professional clubs in France since the sport was introduced to the country in the 1930s. ...

* Ireland: 3 teams representing one of the four

Provinces of Ireland There have been four Provinces of Ireland: Connacht (Connaught), Leinster, Munster, and Ulster. The Irish word for this territorial division, , meaning "fifth part", suggests that there were once five, and at times Meath has been considered ...

* Italy: 2 teams from the National Championship of Excellence * Scotland: 3 teams representing one of the four geographical districts * Wales: 4 teams from the

Welsh Premier Division The Welsh Premier Division, () known for sponsorship reasons as the Indigo Group Premiership, (''Uwch Gynghrair grŵp indigo'') is a rugby union league in Wales first implemented by the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) for the 1990–91 season. Compet ...

Pool stage

In the pool matches teams received *2 points for a win *1 points for a draw

Pool 1

Pool 2

Pool 3

Pool 4

Seeding

Knockout stage

Quarter finals

Semi finals

Final

The final was played on 25 January 1997 at the Arms Park in

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a ...

. The match was contested by

of France and

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

of England. Brive won the match 28–9; they took the lead early on through a fourth-minute penalty from

Christophe Lamaison Christophe "Titou" Lamaison (born 8 April 1971) is a former French rugby union footballer who represented France at international level, and Brive, Agen and Aviron Bayonnais at professional club level. He won 37 caps, and at the time of his retire ...

, and

Sébastien Viars Sébastien Viars (born 24 June 1971) is a former French rugby union footballer. He was nicknamed "The Compass". He played as a centre and as a wing. Viars was born at Aurillac. He played at Stade Aurillacois (1989/90-1991/92), CA Brive (1992/93-1 ...

extended that lead with an unconverted try two minutes later. Leicester responded with three penalties from John Liley, but Brive finally made their pressure show with three second-half tries, one of which was converted, before Lamaison added a drop goal to seal a 19-point victory.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heineken Cup 1996–97 1996–97 in European rugby union 1996–97 in English rugby union 1996–97 in French rugby union 1996–97 in Irish rugby union 1996–97 in Italian rugby union 1996–97 in Scottish rugby union 1996–97 in Welsh rugby union 1996–97 rugby union tournaments for clubs