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2008–09 Heineken Cup

Annual rugby union competition

Field	Value
name	2008–09 Heineken Cup
imagesize	200px
caption	Official logo
countries	England
France
Ireland
Italy
Scotland
Wales
tournament format	Round-robin and Knockout
date	10 October 2008 – 23 May 2009
teams	24
matches	79
attendance	1177064
top point scorer	Ben Blair (Cardiff)
(99 points)
top try scorer	Brian O'Driscoll (Leinster)
(5 tries)
venue	Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh
attendance2	66,523
champions	IRE Leinster
count	1
runner-up	ENG Leicester Tigers
website	https://web.archive.org/web/20080506141030/http://www.ercrugby.com/eng/
previous year	2007–08
previous tournament	2007–08 Heineken Cup
next year	2009–10
next tournament	2009–10 Heineken Cup

France Ireland Italy Scotland Wales (99 points) (5 tries) | runner-up = ENG Leicester Tigers The 2008–09 Heineken Cup was the fourteenth edition of the Heineken Cup, the annual rugby union European club competition for clubs from the top six nations in European rugby. It started in October 2008 and ended on 23 May 2009 at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh. Irish side Leinster became the champions, defeating Leicester Tigers 19–16 in the final.

Teams

Seven French teams competed, as a French team, Toulouse, progressed further in the previous year's tournament than any English or Italian team.

Four Welsh teams competed, as Italy forfeited its place in the Italo-Celtic playoff and a Welsh team were the highest-placed team in the previous year's Celtic league not to qualify otherwise. Other nations had their usual number of participants: England six, Ireland three, Italy two and Scotland two.

England	France	Wales	Ireland	Scotland	Italy

Seeding

The seeding system for participating teams changed from previous editions of the Heineken Cup. Previously, each participating nation would seed one of their teams and these six teams would be drawn in different groups at the group stage. Starting with the 2008–09 edition, the 24 competing teams were ranked based on past Heineken Cup and European Challenge Cup performance, with each group receiving one team from each quartile, or Tier. The requirement to have only one team per country in each group however, still applied (with the exception of the inclusion of the seventh French team).

The brackets show each team's European Rugby Club Ranking before the start of the 2008–09 season.

Tier 1	Tier 2	Tier 3	Tier 4
IRE Munster (1)	FRA Toulouse (2)	FRA Biarritz (3)	ENG Leicester Tigers (4)
IRE Leinster (7)	ENG Bath (8)	ENG Gloucester (9)	FRA Perpignan (10)
WAL Ospreys (15)	WAL Cardiff Blues (17)	FRA Clermont (18)	WAL Newport Gwent Dragons (20)
SCO Glasgow Warriors (24)	ITA Benetton Treviso (25)	SCO Edinburgh (28)	ITA Calvisano (32)

Pool stage

The draw for the pool stages took place on 17 June 2008 in Dublin.

:{| class="wikitable"

+ Key to colours
Winner of each pool, and two best runners-up,
advance to quarterfinals. Seed # in parentheses
}

Pool 1

Team	P	W	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	TB	LB	Pts
IRE Munster (2)	6	5	1	18	6	12	161	98	63	2	1	23
ENG Sale	6	3	3	14	11	3	136	115	21	2	1	15
FRA Clermont	6	3	3	14	13	1	137	129	8	1	0	13
FRA Montauban	6	1	5	5	21	−16	81	173	−92	0	2	6

Pool 2

Team	P	W	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	TB	LB	Pts
IRE Leinster (6)	6	4	2	15	3	12	140	70	70	2	2	20
ENG Wasps	6	4	2	9	12	−3	114	112	2	0	1	17
SCO Edinburgh	6	2	4	8	8	0	91	103	−12	1	0	9
FRA Castres	6	2	4	6	15	−9	73	133	−60	0	1	9

Pool 3

Team	P	W	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	TB	LB	Pts
ENG Leicester Tigers (4)	6	4	2	23	6	17	191	90	101	3	2	21
WAL Ospreys (7)	6	4	2	17	3	14	155	71	84	2	2	20
FRA Perpignan	6	4	2	17	10	7	154	120	34	1	1	18
ITA Benetton Treviso	6	0	6	5	43	−38	72	291	−219	0	0	0

Pool 4

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	TB	LB	Pts
ENG Harlequins (3)	6	5	0	1	16	12	4	144	115	29	2	0	22
FRA Stade Français	6	3	0	3	13	11	2	131	109	22	1	2	15
IRE Ulster	6	2	1	3	13	13	0	113	134	−21	0	1	11
WAL Scarlets	6	1	1	4	12	18	−6	124	154	−30	0	2	8

Pool 5

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	TB	LB	Pts
ENG Bath (5)	6	4	1	1	13	8	5	107	92	15	2	1	21
FRA Toulouse (8)	6	4	1	1	12	8	4	121	88	33	1	1	20
SCO Glasgow	6	2	0	4	14	17	−3	134	150	−16	1	3	12
WAL Newport Gwent Dragons	6	1	0	5	8	14	−6	83	115	−32	0	3	7

Pool 6

Team	P	W	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	TB	LB	Pts
WAL Cardiff Blues (1)	6	6	0	23	9	14	202	99	103	3	0	27
FRA Biarritz	6	3	3	14	4	10	121	88	33	1	2	15
ENG Gloucester	6	3	3	17	12	5	156	109	47	2	1	15
ITA Calvisano	6	0	6	8	37	−29	87	270	−183	0	0	0

Seeding and runners-up

Seed	Pool Winners	Pts	TF	+/−
1	WAL Cardiff Blues	27	23	+103
2	IRE Munster	23	18	+63
3	ENG Harlequins	22	16	+29
4	ENG Leicester Tigers	21	23	+101
5	ENG Bath	21	13	+15
6	IRE Leinster	20	15	+70
7	WAL Ospreys	20	17	+84
8	FRA Toulouse	20	12	+33
–	ENG Sale	19	14	+21
–	ENG Wasps	17	7	+8
–	FRA Biarritz	15	14	+33
–	FRA Stade Français	15	13	+22

Knockout stage

The draw for the quarter-finals took place on 27 January at Murrayfield Stadium.

Quarter-finals

Skrela (1/1) 64'

Maddock 64' m

O'Connell 55' c Earls (2) 63' c, 65' c

This match became notorious for the "Bloodgate" scandal. Quins coach Dean Richards was banned from rugby for three years for his role in faking an injury to wing Tom Williams so that Quins could send in a blood replacement. Williams himself was initially banned for a year, but after he revealed the full extent of the scheme, the ban was reduced to four months.

Semi-finals

Report Fitzgerald 42' c B. O'Driscoll 61' c

Main article: Cardiff Blues vs Leicester Tigers (2008–09 Heineken Cup)

James 74' c Halfpenny 27', 35' G. Murphy 45' c N. Robinson Halfpenny Sweeney James Shanklin Rees M. Williams Vesty G. Murphy J. Murphy Hamilton Mauger Newby Crane

Final

Main article: 2009 Heineken Cup Final

Sexton (1/1) 17'

References

Thornley, Gerry. "Leinster soar highest in bluest of blue days". The Irish Times.
(6 May 2008). "Fourth team for Ireland or Wales in 2008/2009". European Rugby Cup.
(7 May 2008). "Newport Gwent Dragons Secure 4th Heineken Cup Spot for Wales". European Rugby Cup.
"Heineken Cup – Key Tournament Rules". European Rugby Cup.
(11 June 2007). "Heineken Cup Pool Draw Confirmed". European Rugby Cup.
"ERC European Rankings (May 2008)". European Rugby Cup.
"ERC Draw Regulations (June 2008)". European Rugby Cup.
(27 January 2009). "Heineken Cup semi-final draw completed". European Rugby Cup.
Benammar, Emily. (2009-08-18). "Dean Richards ban: how 'Bloodgate' saga unfolded". [[The Daily Telegraph]].

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