The 2007–08 Heineken Cup was the 13th edition of the Heineken Cup, the annual rugby union European club competition for clubs from the top six nations in European rugby.
The start of the tournament was delayed because of the 2007 Rugby World Cup. After much doubt over the competition's future, caused by the threat of English and French clubs not participating, showdown talks ensured that teams from both countries would be competing in the 2007–08 tournament. The cup was won by Munster, who succeeded London Wasps as European champions after a 16–13 win over Toulouse in the final at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium.
Italo-Celtic Playoff The Italo-Celtic Playoff was a match played between the highest-placed Celtic League team not automatically qualified for the Heineken Cup and the third-placed Italian team to decide the 24th qualifying team. This year, the match was between Newport Gwent Dragons of Wales and Calvisano.
Teams
Seven English teams participated, as an English team, London Wasps, progressed further in the previous year's tournament than any French or Italian team.
Four Welsh teams competed, as a Welsh team won the Italo-Celtic playoff.
Other nations had their usual number of participants: France six, Ireland three, Italy two and Scotland two.
EnglandFranceWalesIrelandScotlandItaly London Irish Gloucester Bristol Harlequins Saracens London Wasps Leicester Tigers Perpignan Bourgoin Stade Français Biarritz Clermont Toulouse Newport Gwent Dragons Ospreys Cardiff Blues Llanelli Scarlets Ulster Munster Leinster Glasgow Warriors Edinburgh Benetton Treviso Viadana
Seeding and pool draw Each of the six participating nations nominated a top seed: London Wasps Stade Français Leinster Benetton Treviso Glasgow Warriors Ospreys
The draw then progressed as follows, with at no stage except the last a team being drawn into a pool containing a team from the same nation: The seeded teams were drawn separately into each of the six pools. Five of the six remaining English teams were drawn into five separate pools. The five remaining French teams were drawn into five separate pools. The three remaining Welsh teams were drawn into three separate pools. The two remaining Irish teams were drawn into two separate pools. The remaining Italian and Scottish teams were drawn into two separate pools. The seventh English team was drawn into the final remaining pool spot. The pools are shown below.
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 2007–08, with the top three pool winners all finishing on 24 points), 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 quarter-finals 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 The draw for the pool stages took place on 20 June 2007 at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium. The winner of each pool, plus the two best runners-up, qualify for the quarter-finals.
Pool 1 TeamPWDLTries forTries againstTry diffPoints forPoints againstPoints diffTBLBPts London Irish (2)6501251015182100824024 Perpignan (7)65012071317179922022 Dragons61051622−6117191−74228 Benetton Treviso6105830−22107207−100015
Pool 2 TeamPWDLTries forTries againstTry diffPoints forPoints againstPoints diffTBLBPts Gloucester (3)6501241311184119654024 Ospreys (8)65011697164102621021 Bourgoin61051219−7118174−56138 Ulster61051324−11102173−71015
Pool 3 TeamPWDLTries forTries againstTry diffPoints forPoints againstPoints diffTBLBPts Cardiff Blues (5)6411127512476481120 Stade Français6402128412092282018 Bristol63031091838030012 Harlequins6015717−1062141−79002
Pool 4 TeamPWDLTries forTries againstTry diffPoints forPoints againstPoints diffTBLBPts Saracens (1)65012711162251191063124 Biarritz6402911−2109116−71118 Glasgow Warriors63031214−213012731316 Viadana60061325−12106208−102213
Pool 5 TeamPWDLTries forTries againstTry diffPoints forPoints againstPoints diffTBLBPts Munster (6)6402137614895531219 Clermont640222157189128612119 London Wasps640219127152127252018 Llanelli Scarlets6006828−2074213−139000
Pool 6 TeamPWDLTries forTries againstTry diffPoints forPoints againstPoints diffTBLBPts Toulouse (4)6402137613076542220 Leicester Tigers6303105511079311114 Leinster6303711−495123−280012 Edinburgh6204815−785142−57019
Seeding and runners-up SeedPool winnersPtsTF+/− 1 Saracens 24 27 +106 2 London Irish 24 25 +82 3 Gloucester 24 24 +65 4 Toulouse 20 13 +54 5 Cardiff Blues 20 12 +48 6 Munster 19 13 +53SeedPool runners-upPtsTF+/− 7 Perpignan 22 20 +92 8 Ospreys 21 16 +62 – Clermont 19 22 +61 – Stade Français 18 12 +28 – Biarritz 18 9 −7 – Leicester Tigers 14 10 +31
Knockout stage
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
The final was hosted at the neutral Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, and refereed by Welsh referee Nigel Owens. Toulouse kicked off and managed to regain possession. Toulouse dominated the early parts of the game, and although they missed a penalty goal five minutes into the game, scrum-half Jean-Baptiste Élissalde successfully kicked a drop goal after eight minutes to give them a 3–0 lead. Toulouse continued to dominate territory but Munster winger Doug Howlett made a break in the 29th minute setting up a ruck close to the Toulouse try-line. Munster number eight Denis Leamy then broke from a ruck and attempted to place the ball over the try-line, but lost it forward in the process. From the resulting scrum, Toulouse were pushed off their own ball and Munster gained possession from which Leamy scored. The try was converted by Ronan O'Gara to give Munster a 7–3 lead after 33 minutes. Three minutes later, Munster were awarded a penalty after Toulouse captain Fabien Pelous was caught not rolling away in the ruck. O'Gara kicked the penalty to extend Munster's lead to 10–3. On the 40-minute mark, Leamy was penalised for going into a ruck off his feet and Élissalde kicked the penalty to reduce Munster's lead to four points at half-time.
Ten minutes into the second half, Munster centre Rua Tipoki threw a pass that would have given a try to Howlett, but the pass was deemed forward. One minute later Toulouse's Pelous kicked Munster flanker Alan Quinlan after Quinlan had stood on Pelous' hand. After the intervention of touch judge Nigel Whitehouse, Pelous was shown a yellow card for his part in the incident and sent to the sin bin for 10 minutes. O'Gara kicked Munster's resulting penalty to give his team a 13–6 lead after 51 minutes. Three minutes later, Toulouse fullback Cédric Heymans threw the ball into himself, then kicked ahead before collecting his own kick. He then chipped ahead which Toulouse's Yannick Jauzion kicked once more before wing Yves Donguy grounded the ball to give Toulouse a try. Élissalde converted the try to tie the scores at 13–13 after 54 minutes. Pelous returned from the sin-bin in the 61st minute, and four minutes later was penalised yet again for not rolling away in the ruck. O'Gara kicked the penalty which gave Munster a 16–13 lead. For most of the remaining time, Munster employed the pick-and-go technique, where the forwards would drive the ball from ruck to ruck in an effort to retain possession and use up time. Munster were penalised in the 78th minute after 17 phases of play; the ball was kicked downfield by Toulouse who counter-attacked. Munster turned the ball over, however, and won a kickable penalty with ten seconds left on the clock. Referee Nigel Owens stopped the clock until the penalty was taken; because of the risk of Toulouse recovering possession, the options of kicking for goal and kicking for touch were ruled out. Instead, Ronan O'Gara tapped the penalty and went into contact. With the ten seconds used up, the ball became unplayable in the collapsed maul, Owens blew the final whistle, and Munster had won 16–13.
Statistics
Top point scorers Points Name Club Apps Tries Con Pen Drop 113 Ronan O'Gara Munster 9 1 12 28 0 98 Glen Jackson Saracens 6 2 20 16 0 84 James Hook Ospreys 6 0 12 20 0 75 Peter Hewat London Irish 6 4 14 9 0 75 Dan Parks Glasgow Warriors 6 1 8 17 1 73 Ryan Lamb Gloucester 6 4 13 9 0 67 Marius Goosen Benetton 6 0 5 19 0 65 Felipe Contepomi Leinster 6 1 6 15 1 65 Andy Goode Leicester Tigers 6 1 6 16 0 65 Brock James Clermont 4 1 12 12 0
Top try scorers Player Club Tries Apps Aurélien Rougerie Clermont 5 4 Richard Haughton Saracens 5 5 Vincent Clerc Toulouse 4 6 Tomás de Vedia London Irish 4 6 Jaco Erasmus Viadana 4 5 Guilhem Guirado Perpignan 4 6 Peter Hewat London Irish 4 6 Ryan Lamb Gloucester 4 5 Kameli Ratuvou Saracens 4 6 Julien Arias Stade Français 3 5 Delon Armitage London Irish 3 6 John Barclay Glasgow Warriors 3 6 Steven Bortolussi Viadana 3 6 Simon Danielli Ulster 3 5 Sonny Parker Ospreys 3 5 James Simpson-Daniel Gloucester 3 5 Richard Thorpe London Irish 3 5
Notes
References