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1996–97 Heineken Cup
1996–97 Heineken Cup
Tournament details
Countries	England; France; Ireland; Italy; Scotland; Wales
Tournament format(s)	Round-robin and Knockout
Date	12 October 1996 to 25 January 1997
Tournament statistics
Teams	20
Matches played	47
Attendance	317,987 (6,766 per match)
Top point scorer(s)	Richard Dourthe (Dax); (82 points)
Top try scorer(s)	Sebastien Carrat (Brive); (10 tries)
Final
Venue	Cardiff Arms Park, Cardiff
Attendance	41,664
Champions	Brive (1st title)
Runners-up	Leicester Tigers
	← 1995–96 (Previous) (Next) 1997–98 →

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.^[1]

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

England	France	Ireland	Italy	Scotland	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	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	Pts
Dax	4	3	1	16	2	14	141	69	72	6
Bath	4	3	1	15	8	7	136	88	48	6
Pontypridd	4	3	1	7	3	4	97	60	37	6
Benetton Treviso	4	1	3	13	15	−2	106	135	−29	2
Edinburgh	4	0	4	6	29	−23	71	199	−128	0

Pool 2

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

Pool 3

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

Pool 4

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

Seeding

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

Knockout stage

Quarter-finals			Semi-finals			Final

2	Brive	35

8	Llanelli	14
			2	Brive	26

			6	Cardiff	13
6	Cardiff	22

7	Bath	19
						2	Brive	28

						1	Leicester Tigers	9
1	Leicester Tigers	23

6	Harlequins	13
			1	Leicester Tigers	37

			3	Toulouse	11
4	Dax	18

3	Toulouse	26

Quarter finals

9 November 1996
14:30

Cardiff	22–19	Bath

Cardiff Arms Park, Cardiff
Attendance: 12,000

16 November 1996
15:00

Leicester Tigers	23–13	Harlequins

Welford Road, Leicester
Attendance: 10,263

16 November 1996
16:00

Dax	18–26	Toulouse

Stade Maurice-Boyau, Dax
Attendance: 14,000

17 November 1996
14:45

Brive	35–14	Llanelli

Parc Municipal des Sports, Brive-la-Gaillarde
Attendance: 14,000

Semi finals

4 January 1997
15:05

Leicester Tigers	37–11	Toulouse

Welford Road
Attendance: 16,300

5 January 1997
15:30

Brive	26–13	Cardiff

Parc Municipal des Sports
Attendance: 14,000

Final

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.

25 January 1997
14:30