2003–04 Heineken Cup

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2003-04 Heineken Cup
Date	October 22 to May 23
Teams	24
Matches played	79
Attendance	817,833 (10,352 per match)
Final
Venue	Twickenham Stadium, London
Attendance	73,057
Champions	London Wasps
Runner-up	Stade Toulousain

The 2003-4 Heineken Cup was the ninth season for which European teams competed for the Heineken Cup. Competing teams, from England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales, were divided into six pools of four, in which teams played home and away matches against each other. The winners of the pools, together with the two best runners-up, qualified for the knock-out stage.

This was the first competition in the series to employ the bonus point system for classifying teams. In prior competitions, teams earned 2 points for a win and 1 for a draw. Starting with the 2003-04 competition, teams earned points in the pool matches under the following scenarios:

• 4 points for a win
• 2 points for a draw
• 1 bonus point for scoring 4 or more tries, regardless of the final score
• 1 bonus point for losing by 7 points or less

[edit] Teams

[edit] Pool Stage

Seed	Pool Winners	Pts	TF	+/-
1	Toulouse	25	18	+92
2	London Wasps	24	22	+101
3	(Ireland) Munster	24	22	+97
4	Llanelli Scarlets	23	17	+88
5	Biarritz Olympique	20	18	+42
6	Stade Français	18	11	+54
Seed	Pool Runners-up	Pts	TF	+/-
7	Gloucester	24	22	+96
8	Edinburgh	22	14	+41
-	Celtic Warriors	20	11	+5
-	Northampton Saints	18	13	+67
-	(Ireland) Leinster Rugby	18	13	+29
-	Leicester Tigers	15	17	+22

[edit] Pool 1

Team	Pld	W	D	L	TF	PF	PA	+/-	BP	Pts
Stade Français	6	4	0	2	11	134	80	+54	2	18
Leicester Tigers	6	3	0	3	17	137	115	+22	3	15
(Ireland) Ulster	6	3	0	3	10	109	106	+3	2	14
Newport Gwent Dragons	6	2	0	4	5	67	146	−79	1	9

[edit] Pool 2

Team	Pld	W	D	L	TF	PF	PA	+/-	BP	Pts
Toulouse	6	5	0	1	18	157	65	+92	5	25
Edinburgh	6	5	0	1	14	130	89	+41	2	22
Leeds Tykes	6	1	0	5	5	66	122	−56	1	5
Neath-Swansea Ospreys	6	1	0	5	6	78	155	−77	0	4

[edit] Pool 3

Team	Pld	W	D	L	TF	PF	PA	+/-	BP	Pts
Biarritz Olympique	6	4	0	2	18	139	97	+42	4	20
(Ireland) Leinster	6	4	0	2	13	142	113	+29	2	18
Cardiff Blues	6	2	0	4	13	123	132	−9	3	11
Sale Sharks	6	2	0	4	6	75	137	−62	1	9

[edit] Pool 4

Team	Pld	W	D	L	TF	PF	PA	+/-	BP	Pts
Llanelli Scarlets	6	5	0	1	17	160	72	+88	3	23
Northampton Saints	6	4	0	2	13	121	54	+67	2	18
Agen	6	2	0	4	8	83	94	−11	3	11
The Borders	6	1	0	5	4	39	183	−144	0	4

[edit] Pool 5

Team	Pld	W	D	L	TF	PF	PA	+/-	BP	Pts
(Ireland) Munster Rugby	6	5	0	1	22	197	100	+97	4	24
Gloucester	6	5	0	1	22	172	76	+96	4	24
Bourgoin	6	1	0	5	13	119	191	−72	3	7
Benetton Treviso	6	1	0	5	13	104	225	−121	1	5

[edit] Pool 6

Team	Pld	W	D	L	TF	PF	PA	+/-	BP	Pts
London Wasps	6	5	0	1	22	186	85	+101	4	24
Celtic Warriors	6	4	0	2	11	123	118	+5	4	20
Perpignan	6	3	0	3	13	119	115	4	3	15
Ghial Rugby Calvisano	6	0	0	6	13	115	225	−110	3	3

[edit] Knockout stage

	Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Final
	April 10 - Stade Municipal
	Toulouse	36
					April 24 - Stade Chaban Delmas
	Edinburgh	10
					Toulouse	39
	April 4 - Stradey Park
					Biarritz	11
	Llanelli	10
									May 23 - Twickenham Stadium
	Biarritz	27
									London Wasps	27
	April 10 - Thomond Park
									Toulouse	20
	(Ireland) Munster	37
					April 25 - Lansdowne Road
	Stade Français	32
					(Ireland) Munster	32
	April 11 - Adams Park
					London Wasps	37
	London Wasps	34
	Gloucester	3

[edit] Quarter-finals

2004-04-04 19:45	Llanelli Scarlets	10 – 27	Biarritz Olympique	Stradey Park Attendance: 10,800

2004-04-10 16:00	Toulouse	36 – 10	Edinburgh Rugby	Stade Municipal Attendance: 36,500

2004-04-10 17:00	Munster Rugby (Ireland)	37 – 32	Stade Français	Thomond Park Attendance: 13,000

2004-04-11 15:00	London Wasps	34 – 3	Gloucester RFC	Adams Park Attendance: 10,000

[edit] Semifinals

2004-04-24 16:00	Toulouse	39 – 11	Biarritz Olympique	Stade Chaban Delmas Attendance: 34,000

2004-04-25 15:00	Munster Rugby (Ireland)	32 – 37	London Wasps	Lansdowne Road Attendance: 49,000

[edit] Final

2004-05-23 15:00	London Wasps	27 – 20	Toulouse	Twickenham Stadium Attendance: 73,057