2011–12 Heineken Cup

The 2011–12 Heineken Cup was the 17th season of the Heineken Cup, the annual rugby union European club competition for clubs from the top six nations in European rugby. The final was held at Twickenham^[1] on Saturday, 19 May 2012, kicking off at 5 pm (16:00 UTC).^[2][3]

2011–12 Heineken Cup
Tournament details
Countries	England  France  Ireland  Italy  Scotland  Wales
Tournament format(s)	Round-robin and Knockout
Date	11 November 2011 – 19 May 2012
Tournament statistics
Teams	24
Matches played	79
Attendance	1,172,127 (14,837 per match)
Tries scored	320 (4.05 per match)
Top point scorer(s)	Johnny Sexton (Leinster) (103 points)
Top try scorer(s)	Timoci Matanavou (Toulouse) (8 tries)
Final
Venue	Twickenham, London
Attendance	81,774
Champions	Leinster (3rd title)
Runners-up	Ulster
← 2010–11 (Previous) (Next) 2012–13 →

Leinster lifted the Heineken Cup by defeating fellow Pro12 and Irish side Ulster 42–14. The victory gave Leinster their third Heineken Cup title in four years – a run of success unprecedented in the competition's history.^[4]

Teams

The default allocation of teams is as follows:^[5]

• England: 6 teams, based on performance in the Aviva Premiership and Anglo-Welsh Cup^[6]
• France: 6 teams, based on regular-season finish in the Top 14^[7]
• Ireland: 3 teams, based on regular-season finish in the Celtic League^[8]
• Wales: 3 teams, based on regular-season finish in the Celtic League^[8]
• Italy and Scotland: 2 teams each, based on participation in the Celtic League (although there are only 2 from each nation)^[8]

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). Accordingly, Harlequins claimed the Challenge Cup winner's berth, and since Heineken Cup winners Leinster were already domestically qualified, the extra Irish berth went to Connacht.

England	France	Ireland	Wales	Italy	Scotland
Leicester Tigers Northampton Saints Gloucester Harlequins Bath London Irish Saracens	Toulouse Biarritz Clermont Auvergne Castres Montpellier Racing Métro	Leinster Munster Ulster Connacht	Cardiff Blues Ospreys Scarlets	Benetton Treviso Aironi	Glasgow Warriors Edinburgh

Seeding

The seeding system was the same as in the 2010–11 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 English team).^[9]

The brackets show each team's European Rugby Club Ranking at the end of the 2010–11 season.

Tier 1	Leinster (1)	Toulouse (2)	Munster (3)	Cardiff Blues (4)	Biarritz (5)	Leicester Tigers (6)
Tier 2	Northampton (7)	Clermont Auvergne (10)	Ospreys (11)	Bath (12)	Harlequins (13)	London Irish (15)
Tier 3	Ulster (16)	Saracens (17)	Gloucester (18)	Glasgow (20)	Scarlets (21)	Edinburgh (24)
Tier 4	Connacht (25)	Benetton Treviso (30)	Castres (31)	Montpellier (32)	Racing Métro (33)	Aironi (37)

Pool stage

Further information: 2011–12 Heineken Cup pool stage

The draw for the pool stage took place on 7 June 2011.

Under rules of the competition organiser, European Rugby Cup, tiebreakers within each pool are as follows.^[10]

• 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

	Pool winners, and the two best pool runners-up, advance to quarterfinals.
	Third-, fourth- and fifth-highest-scoring second-place teams parachute into the knockout stage of the European Challenge Cup.

Pool 1

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	TB	LB	Pts
Munster	6	6	0	0	14	10	+4	163	118	+45	1	0	25
Scarlets	6	3	0	3	12	9	+3	119	124	−5	1	2	15
Northampton Saints	6	2	0	4	18	16	+2	176	160	+16	2	2	12
Castres	6	1	0	5	10	19	−9	111	167	−56	1	2	7

Pool 2

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	TB	LB	Pts
Edinburgh	6	5	0	1	17	11	+6	156	138	+18	2	0	22
Cardiff Blues	6	5	0	1	9	5	+4	145	110	+35	0	1	21
Racing Métro	6	1	0	5	13	19	−6	160	190	−30	1	4	9
London Irish	6	1	0	5	7	11	−4	116	139	−23	1	4	9

Pool 3

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	TB	LB	Pts
Leinster	6	5	1	0	18	7	+11	172	88	+84	2	0	24
Glasgow Warriors	6	2	1	3	8	12	−4	106	133	−27	0	2	12
Bath	6	2	0	4	11	15	−4	122	151	−29	0	3	11
Montpellier	6	1	2	3	8	11	−3	84	112	−28	0	2	10

Pool 4

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	TB	LB	Pts
Clermont Auvergne	6	4	0	2	26	5	+21	215	69	+146	2	2	20
Ulster	6	4	0	2	16	8	+8	158	87	+71	3	1	20
Leicester Tigers	6	4	0	2	13	8	+5	123	117	+6	1	0	17
Aironi	6	0	0	6	4	38	−34	51	274	−223	0	0	0

Pool 5

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	TB	LB	Pts
Saracens	6	5	0	1	13	10	+3	145	107	+38	1	1	22
Biarritz	6	3	0	3	18	7	+11	143	105	+38	3	3	18
Ospreys	6	2	1	3	13	16	−3	142	147	−5	1	2	13
Benetton Treviso	6	1	1	4	12	23	−11	122	193	−71	0	0	6

Pool 6

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	TB	LB	Pts
Toulouse	6	4	0	2	16	11	+5	150	105	+45	1	1	18
Harlequins	6	4	0	2	11	7	+4	122	94	+28	0	1	17
Gloucester	6	3	0	3	10	12	−2	111	122	−11	1	2	15
Connacht	6	1	0	5	5	12	−7	68	130	−62	0	2	6

Seeding and runners-up

• Bare numbers indicate Heineken Cup quarterfinal seeding.
• Numbers with "C" indicate Challenge Cup quarterfinal seeding.

Seed	Pool Winners	Pts	TF	+/−
1	Munster	25	14	+45
2	Leinster	24	18	+84
3	Edinburgh	22	17	+18
4	Saracens	22	13	+38
5	Clermont Auvergne	20	26	+146
6	Toulouse	18	16	+45
Seed	Pool Runners-up	Pts	TF	+/−
7	Cardiff Blues	21	9	+35
8	Ulster	20	16	+71
5C	Biarritz	18	18	+42
6C	Harlequins	17	11	+28
7C	Scarlets	15	12	−5
-	Glasgow Warriors	12	12	−27

Knock-out stages

Quarter-finals

7 April 2012 15:00 BST

Edinburgh	19–14	Toulouse
Try: Blair 1' c Con: Laidlaw (1/1) Pen: Laidlaw (3/4) 46', 51', 80' Drop: Laidlaw (1/1) 38'	Report	Try: Matanavou 30' m Pen: Beauxis (3/5) 5', 19', 28'

Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh Attendance: 37,881 Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)

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7 April 2012 17:45 IST

Leinster	34–3	Cardiff Blues
Try: Nacewa 12' c Kearney (2) 30' c, 41' c O'Driscoll 34' c Con: Sexton (4/4) Pen: Sexton (2/3) 8', 23'	Report	Pen: Halfpenny (1/1) 2'

Aviva Stadium, Dublin Attendance: 50,340 Referee: Dave Pearson (England)

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8 April 2012 13:45 IST

Munster	16–22	Ulster
Try: Zebo 34' c Con: O'Gara (1/1) Pen: O'Gara (3/4) 40', 49', 61'	Report	Try: Gilroy 16' c Con: Pienaar (1/1) Pen: Pienaar (4/5) 5', 11', 20', 59' Drop: Humphreys (1/1) 32'

Thomond Park, Limerick Attendance: 26,500 Referee: Romain Poite (France)

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8 April 2012 16:30 BST

Saracens	3–22	Clermont Auvergne
Pen: Farrell (1/2) 16'	Report	Try: Byrne 43' c Con: James (1/1) Pen: James (4/6) 7', 11', 13', 55' Drop: James (1/1) 49'

Vicarage Road, Watford Attendance: 11,047 Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)

Semi-finals

28 April 2012 17:45 IST

Ulster	22–19	Edinburgh
Try: Wannenburg 15' c Con: Pienaar (1/1) Pen: Pienaar (5/5) 5', 38', 58', 63', 75'	Report	Try: Thompson 80' c Con: Laidlaw (1/1) Pen: Laidlaw (4/4) 9', 11', 40', 45'

Aviva Stadium, Dublin Attendance: 45,147 Referee: Romain Poite (France)

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29 April 2012 16:00 HAEC

Clermont Auvergne	15–19	Leinster
Pen: James (5/6) 17', 31', 36', 39', 52'	Report	Try: Healy 41' c Con: Sexton (1/1) Pen: Sexton (3/4) 7', 34', 62' Drop: Kearney (1/1) 46' Sexton (0/1)

Stade Chaban-Delmas, Bordeaux Attendance: 32,397 Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)

Final

Main article: 2012 Heineken Cup Final

19 May 2012 17:00 BST

Leinster	42–14	Ulster
Try: O'Brien 12' c Healy 31' c penalty try 44' c van der Merwe 76' m Cronin 80' c Con: Sexton (3/3) McFadden (1/2) Pen: Sexton (3/4) 51', 67', 73'	Report	Try: Tuohy 60' m Pen: Pienaar (3/3) 7', 40', 49'

Twickenham Stadium, London Attendance: 81,774 Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)

References

1. "ERC : Finals : Twickenham 2012". Ercrugby.com. 18 May 2011. Retrieved 30 March 2012.
2. "ERC : News : Heineken Cup 2011 and 2012 Finals". Ercrugby.com. 17 May 2010. Retrieved 30 March 2012.
3. "Teams learn 2011/2012 Heineken Cup pool stages fate". BBC Sport. 7 June 2011. Archived from the original on 10 June 2011. Retrieved 9 June 2011.
4. Palmer, Bryn (19 May 2012). "Heineken Cup final: Leinster beat Ulster to retain trophy". BBC Sport. Retrieved 20 May 2012.
5. "ERC : Heineken Cup : Rules : Qualification Process". Ercrugby.com. 13 August 2010. Archived from the original on 18 December 2012. Retrieved 30 March 2012.
6. "ERC : European Qualification : England". Ercrugby.com. Archived from the original on 6 August 2012. Retrieved 30 March 2012.
7. "ERC : European Qualification : France". Ercrugby.com. Archived from the original on 6 August 2012. Retrieved 30 March 2012.
8. "ERC : European Qualification : Celtic Countries". Ercrugby.com. Archived from the original on 6 August 2012. Retrieved 30 March 2012.
9. Heineken Cup Pool Draw. European Rugby Cup. 7 June 2011. Retrieved 22 July 2011.
10. "Key Tournament Rules". European Rugby Cup. Archived from the original on 8 October 2010. Retrieved 10 October 2010.