2000–01 Heineken Cup

The 2000–01 Heineken Cup was the sixth edition of the Heineken Cup, a rugby union tournament. Competing teams from France, Ireland, Italy, Wales, England and Scotland, were divided into six pools of four, in which teams played home and away matches against each other. The pool winners and two best runners-up qualified for the knock-out stages.

2000–01 Heineken Cup
Tournament details
Countries	England  France  Ireland  Italy  Scotland  Wales
Tournament format(s)	Round-robin and Knockout
Date	6 October 2000 – 19 May 2001
Tournament statistics
Teams	24
Matches played	79
Attendance	646,834 (8,188 per match)
Top point scorer(s)	Diego Domínguez (Stade Français) (188 points)
Top try scorer(s)	Matthew Robinson (Swansea) (9 tries)
Final
Venue	Parc des Princes, Paris
Attendance	44,000
Champions	Leicester Tigers (1st title)
Runners-up	Stade Français

Teams

France	England	Wales	Scotland	Ireland	Italy
Biarritz Olympique Stade Français Toulouse Castres Colomiers Pau	Northampton London Wasps Saracens Bath Gloucester Rugby Leicester Tigers	Swansea Cardiff Newport Llanelli Pontypridd	Edinburgh Reivers Glasgow Caledonians	Leinster Ulster Munster	L'Aquila Roma

Pool stage

In the pool matches teams received

• 2 points for a win
• 1 points for a draw

Pool 1

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	Pts
Biarritz Olympique	6	4	0	2	13	20	−7	164	152	12	8
Edinburgh Reivers	6	3	1	2	17	12	5	154	141	13	7
Leinster	6	3	1	2	13	14	−1	149	156	−7	7
Northampton	6	1	0	5	17	14	3	138	156	−18	2

Edinburgh finished above Leinster despite having a lower points difference, as the first tie-breaker was the results in the two matches between the teams.[1]

Pool 2

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	Pts
Stade Français	6	5	0	1	36	4	32	297	85	212	10
Swansea	6	4	0	2	28	11	17	244	123	121	8
Wasps	6	3	0	3	20	14	6	175	156	19	6
L'Aquila	6	0	0	6	3	58	−55	40	392	−352	0

Pool 3

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	Pts
Cardiff	6	4	0	2	18	13	5	182	146	36	8
Saracens	6	4	0	2	14	13	1	174	140	34	8
Toulouse	6	2	1	3	19	15	4	171	182	−11	5
Ulster	6	1	1	4	11	21	−10	146	205	−59	3

Cardiff won the pool despite having a lower points difference than Saracens, as the first tie-breaker was the results in the two matches between the teams.[2]

Pool 4

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	Pts
Munster	6	5	0	1	15	7	8	154	109	45	10
Bath	6	4	0	2	14	11	3	139	106	33	8
Newport	6	2	0	4	10	22	−12	122	183	−61	4
Castres	6	1	0	5	14	13	1	135	152	−17	2

Pool 5

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	Pts
Gloucester	6	4	1	1	13	11	2	186	140	46	9
Llanelli	6	4	0	2	18	8	10	187	103	84	8
Colomiers	6	3	1	2	14	11	3	148	120	28	7
Roma	6	0	0	6	10	25	−15	88	246	−158	0

Pool 6

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	Pts
Leicester	6	5	0	1	15	9	6	178	105	73	10
Pau	6	4	0	2	19	10	9	154	142	12	8
Pontypridd	6	2	0	4	9	12	−3	136	131	5	4
Glasgow Caledonians	6	1	0	5	12	24	−12	137	227	−90	2

Seeding

Seed	Pool Winners	Pts	TF	+/−
1	Stade Français	10	36	+212
2	Leicester Tigers	10	15	+73
3	Munster	10	15	+45
4	Gloucester	9	13	+46
5	Cardiff	8	18	+36
6	Biarritz Olympique	8	13	+12
Seed	Pool Runners-up	Pts	TF	+/−
7	Swansea	8	28	+121
8	Pau	8	19	+12
-	Llanelli	8	18	+84
-	Saracens	8	14	+34
-	Bath	8	14	+33
-	Edinburgh Reivers	7	17	+13

Knockout stage

Quarter-finals

27 January 2001 14:00

Gloucester	21 – 15	Cardiff

Kingsholm Attendance: 10,800

27 January 2001 14:10

Stade Francais	36 – 19	Pau

Stade Jean-Bouin Attendance: 8,000

28 January 2001 14:10

Leicester Tigers	41 – 10	Swansea

Welford Road Attendance: 13,000

28 January 2001 14:45

Munster	38 – 29	Biarritz Olympique

Thomond Park Attendance: 14,000

Semi-finals

21 April 2001 15:00

Stade Francais	16 – 15	Munster

Stadium Nord Attendance: 20,400

21 April 2001 15:00

Leicester Tigers	19 – 15	Gloucester

Vicarage Road Attendance: 14,010

Final

19 May 2001 15:00 CEST

Stade Français	30 – 34	Leicester Tigers
Pen: Dominguez (9) 4', 16', 21', 27', 39', 46', 57', 68', 71' Drop: Dominguez 77'	Report	Tries: Lloyd (2) 41' m, 79' c Back 59' c Con: Stimpson (2) Pen: Stimpson (5) 6', 10', 30', 64', 73'

Parc des Princes, Paris Attendance: 44,000 Referee: David McHugh (Ireland)

Going into the final stages of the game, the scores were level at 27–27. A drop goal from Diego Domínguez then put Stade three points ahead. Meanwhile, Leicester brought on replacement scrum-half Jamie Hamilton for starting fly-half Andy Goode, with starting scrum-half Austin Healey switching to fly-half. Glenn Gelderbloom was also brought on at outside centre, with Leon Lloyd switching from outside centre to wing.

Leicester won a penalty just inside their own half and kicked to the left-hand touchline. The resulting line-out throw was too high and but it was cleaned up by Neil Back at the back of the line. Back passed the ball to out to Healey, though the pass forced Healey to check his run to gather the ball. With the two sets of opposing backs 20 metres apart for the line-out, the Tigers backs executed a pre-called backs move. Healey would dummy scissors with inside centre Pat Howard, another dummy scissors with outside centre Glenn Gelderbloom before the ball would be passed to the big full back Tim Stimpson who would take the ball into contact. Howard drew Domínguez and Gelderbloom drew the Stade inside centre, but the Stade outside centre who had only been on the field a few minutes, drifted onto Stimpson. Healey broke the Stade defensive line through the gap, before drawing the full back and putting Leon Lloyd in the right hand corner.

Lloyd's second try of the game gave Leicester a two-point lead, with the conversion to come. If Stimpson missed, another goal would give Stade the lead. If he scored the conversion, however, Stade would need a try. The kick from the right-hand touchline was from the most difficult position on the field for a right-footed kicker. Stimpson however hit the conversion straight between the posts, and Leicester were able to hang on to their lead for victory.

References

1. ERC Rugby - Key Rules Archived May 17, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
2. ERC Rugby - Key Rules Archived May 17, 2008, at the Wayback Machine