2010–11 Heineken Cup


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 Stadium where Leinster beat Northampton Saints 33 - 22.

Teams

The default allocation of teams is as follows:
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. 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. 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.
EnglandFranceWalesIrelandItalyScotland

  • Leicester Tigers
  • London Wasps
  • Northampton Saints
  • Bath
  • London Irish
  • Saracens
  • Toulouse
  • Biarritz
  • Clermont
  • Perpignan
  • Castres
  • Toulon
  • Racing Métro
  • Cardiff Blues
  • Ospreys
  • Scarlets
  • Newport Gwent Dragons
  • Munster
  • Leinster
  • Ulster
  • Benetton Treviso
  • Aironi
  • Glasgow 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.
    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 Toulouse Leinster Leicester Tigers Biarritz Cardiff Blues
    Tier 2 London Wasps Clermont Ospreys Northampton Saints Bath Scarlets
    Tier 3 Perpignan London Irish Saracens Ulster Glasgow Warriors Edinburgh
    Tier 4 Newport Gwent Dragons Benetton Treviso Castres Toulon Aironi Racing Métro

    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.
    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:
    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 stage
    of the European Challenge Cup. Seed # in brackets

    Pool 1

    Pool 2

    Pool 3

    Pool 4

    Pool 5

    Pool 6

    Seeding and runners-up

    SeedPool WinnersPtsTF+/−
    1 Northampton Saints2516+68
    2 Leinster2421+75
    3 Perpignan2223+84
    4 Biarritz2216+55
    5 Toulouse2215+70
    6 Toulon1711+21
    SeedPool Runners-upPtsTF+/−
    7 Leicester Tigers2225+97
    8 Ulster2215+52
    5C London Wasps1915+39
    6C Clermont1914+20
    7C 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

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    Semi-finals

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    Final

    Individual statistics

    Top points scorers

    Final Standings

    PosPlayerTeamPoints
    1 Jonathan Sexton Leinster138
    2 Stephen Myler Northampton Saints101
    3 David Skrela Toulouse94
    4 Jérôme Porical Perpignan86
    5 Dimitri Yachvili Biarritz80
    6 Ian Humphreys Ulster72
    7 Ruaridh Jackson Glasgow Warriors71
    8 Dave Walder London Wasps70
    8 Jonny Wilkinson Toulon70
    10 Toby Flood Leicester Tigers67

    Top try scorers

    Final Standings

    PosPlayerTeamTries
    1 Paul Diggin Northampton Saints6
    2 Matt Banahan Bath5
    2 Tommaso Benvenuti Benetton Treviso5
    2 Tom Biggs Bath5
    2 Thierry Dusautoir Toulouse5
    2 Takudzwa Ngwenya Biarritz5
    2 Jonathan Sexton Leinster5
    8 Ben Foden Northampton Saints4
    8 Seán O'Brien Leinster4
    8 Andrew Trimble Ulster4
    8 Alesana Tuilagi Leicester Tigers4
    8 Tom Varndell London Wasps4