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
Date6 October 2000 – 19 May 2001
Tournament statistics
Teams24
Matches played79
Attendance646,834 (8,188 per match)
Top point scorer(s)Diego Domínguez (Stade Français)
(188 points)
Top try scorer(s)Matthew Robinson (Swansea)
(9 tries)
Final
VenueParc des Princes, Paris
Attendance44,000
ChampionsEngland Leicester Tigers (1st title)
Runners-upFrance Stade Français
← 1999–2000 (Previous)
(Next) 2001–02 →

Teams

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  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
  • Leinster
  • Ulster
  • Munster
  • L'Aquila
  • Roma

Pool stage

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In the pool matches teams received

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

Pool 1

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Quarter-finals

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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

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21 April 2001
15:00
Stade Francais  16–15  Munster
Stadium Lille Métropole
Attendance: 20,400
21 April 2001
15:00
Leicester Tigers  19–15  Gloucester
Vicarage Road
Attendance: 14,010

Final

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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'
ReportTries: 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

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