1996–97 Heineken Cup

The 1996–97 Heineken Cup was the second edition of the Heineken Cup, an international competition for the top European rugby union clubs. Competing teams from France, Ireland, Italy, Wales and, for the first time, England and Scotland, were divided into four pools of five, with each team playing the other teams once, meaning two home and two away games per team. The pool winners and runners-up qualified for the knock-out stages. The competition was won by a French team for the second time, when Brive beat their English opponents Leicester Tigers 28–9 at the Cardiff Arms Park. The defending champions Toulouse were knocked out in the semi-final by Leicester Tigers and Brive beat Cardiff in the other semi-final.<ref name=Cleary>Template:Cite book</ref>

Teams

The qualifying teams were drawn from six countries. Generally, these were the strongest teams from the top division of domestic rugby; weaker teams participated in the Challenge Cup:

• England: 4 teams from the English Premiership
• France: 4 teams from the French Championship
• Ireland: 3 teams representing one of the four Provinces of Ireland
• Italy: 2 teams from the National Championship of Excellence
• Scotland: 3 teams representing one of the four geographical districts
• Wales: 4 teams from the Welsh Premier Division

Template:Flagicon England	Template:Flagicon France	Template:Flagicon Ireland	Template:Flagicon Italy	Template:Flagicon Scotland	Template:Flagicon Wales
Bath Harlequins Leicester Tigers London Wasps	Brive Dax Pau Toulouse	Leinster Munster Ulster	Benetton Treviso Rugby Milano	Borders Caledonia Edinburgh	Cardiff Llanelli Neath Pontypridd

Pool stage

In the pool matches teams received

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

Pool 1

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	Pts
Template:Flagicon Dax	4	3	0	1	16	2	14	141	69	72	6
Template:Flagicon Bath	4	3	0	1	15	8	7	136	88	48	6
Template:Flagicon Pontypridd	4	3	0	1	7	3	4	97	60	37	6
Template:Flagicon Benetton Treviso	4	1	0	3	13	15	−2	106	135	−29	2
Template:Flagicon Edinburgh	4	0	0	4	6	29	−23	71	199	−128	0

Pool 2

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	Pts
Template:Flagicon Leicester	4	4	0	0	14	3	11	114	43	71	8
Template:Flagicon Llanelli	4	2	0	2	9	9	0	97	81	16	4
Template:Flagicon Leinster	4	2	0	2	9	12	−3	86	109	−23	4
Template:Flagicon Pau	4	1	0	3	19	10	9	137	103	34	2
Template:Flagicon Scottish Borders	4	1	0	3	7	24	−17	80	178	−98	2

Pool 3

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	Pts
Template:Flagicon Brive	4	4	0	0	13	8	5	106	65	41	8
Template:Flagicon Harlequins	4	3	0	1	20	8	12	131	95	36	6
Template:Flagicon Neath	4	2	0	2	10	16	−6	83	109	−26	4
Template:Flagicon Ulster	4	1	0	3	6	10	−4	75	87	−12	2
Template:Flagicon Caledonia	4	0	0	4	13	20	−7	117	156	−39	0

Pool 4

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	Pts
Template:Flagicon Toulouse	4	3	0	1	21	13	8	157	142	15	6
Template:Flagicon Cardiff	4	3	0	1	16	7	9	135	97	38	6
Template:Flagicon London Wasps	4	2	0	2	17	14	3	156	115	41	4
Template:Flagicon Munster	4	2	0	2	11	22	−11	109	135	−26	4
Template:Flagicon Milan	4	0	0	4	6	15	−9	73	141	−68	0

Seeding

Seed	Pool Winners	Pts	TF	+/−
1	Template:Flagicon Leicester	8	14	+71
2	Template:Flagicon Brive	8	13	+41
3	Template:Flagicon Toulouse	6	21	+15
4	Template:Flagicon Dax	6	16	+72
Seed	Pool Runners-up	Pts	TF	+/−
5	Template:Flagicon Harlequins	6	20	+36
6	Template:Flagicon Cardiff RFC	6	16	+38
7	Template:Flagicon Bath	6	15	+48
8	Template:Flagicon Llanelli RFC	4	9	+16

Knockout stage

Final

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} The final was played on 25 January 1997 at the Arms Park in Cardiff. The match was contested by Brive of France and Leicester of England. Brive won the match 28–9; they took the lead early on through a fourth-minute penalty from Christophe Lamaison, and Sébastien Viars extended that lead with an unconverted try two minutes later. Leicester responded with three penalties from John Liley, but Brive finally made their pressure show with three second-half tries, one of which was converted, before Lamaison added a drop goal to seal a 19-point victory.