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 StadiumBBC Sport where Leinster beat Northampton Saints 33 – 22.

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.

EnglandFranceWalesIrelandItalyScotlandLeicester Tigers London Wasps Northampton Saints Bath London Irish SaracensToulouse Biarritz Clermont Perpignan Castres Toulon Racing MétroCardiff Blues Ospreys Scarlets Newport Gwent DragonsMunster Leinster UlsterBenetton Treviso AironiGlasgow 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. 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).

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.

Tier 1 Munster (1) Toulouse (2) Leinster (3) Leicester Tigers (4) Biarritz (5) 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. 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 stageof the European Challenge Cup. Seed # in brackets

Pool 1 TeamPWDLTries forTries againstTry diffPoints forPoints againstPoints diffTBLBPts 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 TeamPWDLTries forTries againstTry diffPoints forPoints againstPoints diffTBLBPts Leinster (2) 6 5 0 1 21 9 +12 179 104 +75 3 1 24 Clermont 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 TeamPWDLTries forTries againstTry diffPoints forPoints againstPoints diffTBLBPts Toulon (6) 6 4 0 2 13 13 0 143 134 +9 1 0 17 Munster 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 TeamPWDLTries forTries againstTry diffPoints forPoints againstPoints diffTBLBPts 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 TeamPWDLTries forTries againstTry diffPoints forPoints againstPoints diffTBLBPts 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 TeamPWDLTries forTries againstTry diffPoints forPoints againstPoints diffTBLBPts Toulouse (5) 6 5 0 1 15 6 +10 155 85 +70 1 1 22 London Wasps 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.

SeedPool WinnersPtsTF+/−1 Northampton Saints2516+682 Leinster2421+753 Perpignan2223+844 Biarritz2216+555 Toulouse2215+706 Toulon1711+21SeedPool Runners-upPtsTF+/−7 Leicester Tigers2225+978 Ulster2215+525C London Wasps1915+396C Clermont1914+207C Munster1617+21 – Cardiff Blues146−6

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

Individual statistics

Top points scorers Final Standings (correct as of 21 May 2011) Pos Player Team Points 1 Johnny Sexton Leinster 138 2 Stephen Myler Northampton Saints 101 3 David Skrela Toulouse 94 4 Jérôme Porical Perpignan 86 5 Dimitri Yachvili Biarritz 80 6 Ian Humphreys Ulster 72 7 Ruaridh Jackson Glasgow Warriors 71 8 Dave Walder London Wasps 70 Jonny Wilkinson Toulon 70 10 Toby Flood Leicester Tigers 67

Top try scorers Final Standings (Correct as of 21 May 2011) Pos Player Team Tries 1 Paul Diggin Northampton Saints 6 2 Matt Banahan Bath 5 Tommaso Benvenuti Benetton Treviso 5 Tom Biggs Bath 5 Thierry Dusautoir Toulouse 5 Takudzwa Ngwenya Biarritz 5 Johnny Sexton Leinster 5 8 Ben Foden Northampton Saints 4 Seán O'Brien Leinster 4 Andrew Trimble Ulster 4 Alesana Tuilagi Leicester Tigers 4 Tom Varndell London Wasps 4

See also 2010–11 Amlin Challenge Cup

External links Official ERC website

References