# 2001–02 European Challenge Cup

The 2001–02 European Challenge Cup (known as the Parker Pen Shield for sponsorship reasons) was the 6th season of the European Challenge Cup, Europe's second-tier club rugby union competition below the Heineken Cup. A total of 32 teams participated, representing seven countries.
The pool stage began when Connacht hosted Narbonne on 28 September 2001 and ended with four matches on 13 January 2002. The knockout stages followed, culminating in the final at the Kassam Stadium in Oxford on 26 May 2002.
The defending champions, Englands's Harlequins, did not have a chance to defend their crown because they qualified to play in the Heineken Cup. Sale Sharks claimed a narrow victory over Pontypridd in the final and picked up their first piece of European Club silverware.

## Teams

The allocation of teams was as follows:
    England: 6 teams — all teams from the Zurich Premiership that did not qualify for the 2001–02 Heineken Cup
    France: 10 teams — all teams from the Top 16 that did not qualify for the Heineken Cup
    Ireland: 1 team — the Irish team from the Celtic League that did not play in the Heineken Cup
    Italy: 8 teams — all the teams from the Super 10 that did not qualify for the Heineken Cup
    Romania: 1 team specially created for the competition
    Spain: 2 teams — drawn from the División de Honor de Rugby
    Wales: 4 teams — all the teams from the Celtic League that did not qualify for the Heineken Cup
Scotland was not represented as both of its teams (Edinburgh and Glasgow) played in the Heineken Cup.
| England | France | Ireland | Italy | Romania | Spain | Wales |
| Bristol Shoguns Gloucester Leeds Tykes London Irish Sale Sharks Saracens | Agen Béziers Bordeaux-Bègles Bourgoin Colomiers Dax La Rochelle Montauban Narbonne Pau | Connacht | Bologna Gran Parma L'Aquila Overmach Parma Petrarca Padova Rugby Roma Rovigo Viadana | Dinamo București | UC Madrid Valladolid RAC | Caerphilly Ebbw Vale Neath Pontypridd |

## Pool stage

    Key to colours   Winner of each pool, advance to quarterfinals. Seed # in parentheses

### Pool 1

| Team | P | W | D | L | Tries for | Tries against | Try diff | Points for | Points against | Points diff | Pts |
| Ebbw Vale (7) | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 15 | 10 | 5 | 153 | 90 | 63 | 8 |
| Agen | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 25 | 13 | 12 | 199 | 119 | 80 | 8 |
| Montauban | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 16 | 9 | 7 | 146 | 123 | 23 | 8 |
| Rovigo | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 8 | 32 | −24 | 78 | 244 | −166 | 0 |
| Source : www.ercrugby.com Points breakdown: *2 points for a win *1 point for a draw ||||||||||||
| Ebbw Vale, Agen and Montauban finished on the same Competition Points. In head-to-head matches Ebbw Vale beat Agen 68–30 on aggregate, having won one game and lost the other Ebbw Vale beat Montauban 31–24 on aggregate, having won one game and lost the other Agen beat Montauban 60–41 on aggregate, having won one game and lost the other hence Ebbw Vale top the table ||||||||||||

### Pool 2

| Team | P | W | D | L | Tries for | Tries against | Try diff | Points for | Points against | Points diff | Pts |
| Pau (4) | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 27 | 3 | 24 | 217 | 63 | 154 | 12 |
| Colomiers | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 32 | 9 | 23 | 259 | 105 | 154 | 8 |
| Petrarca Padova | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 14 | 26 | −12 | 114 | 223 | −109 | 4 |
| UC Madrid | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 8 | 43 | −35 | 90 | 289 | −199 | 0 |
| Source : www.ercrugby.com Archived 2013-02-15 at archive.today Points breakdown: *2 points for a win *1 point for a draw ||||||||||||

### Pool 3

| Team | P | W | D | L | Tries for | Tries against | Try diff | Points for | Points against | Points diff | Pts |
| Pontypridd (8) | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 7 | 5 | 139 | 87 | 52 | 8 |
| Leeds Tykes | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 21 | 15 | 6 | 188 | 154 | 34 | 8 |
| Béziers | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 15 | 19 | −4 | 136 | 187 | −51 | 4 |
| Overmach Parma | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 11 | 18 | −7 | 127 | 162 | −35 | 4 |
| Source : www.ercrugby.com Archived 2013-02-15 at archive.today Points breakdown: *2 points for a win *1 point for a draw ||||||||||||
| Pontypridd and Leeds finished on the same Competition Points. In head-to-head matches, Pontypridd beat Leeds 55–46 on aggregate, having won one game and lost the other. ||||||||||||
| Béziers and Overmach Parma finished on the same Competition Points. In head-to-head matches, Béziers beat Overmach Parma 63–60 on aggregate, having won one game and lost the other. ||||||||||||

### Pool 4

| Team | P | W | D | L | Tries for | Tries against | Try diff | Points for | Points against | Points diff | Pts |
| Sale Sharks (3) | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 40 | 7 | 33 | 286 | 79 | 207 | 12 |
| Connacht | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 15 | 17 | −2 | 157 | 140 | 17 | 6 |
| Narbonne | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 13 | 9 | 4 | 128 | 111 | 17 | 6 |
| Rugby Roma | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 7 | 42 | −35 | 57 | 298 | −241 | 0 |
| Source : www.ercrugby.com Archived 2013-02-15 at archive.today Points breakdown: *2 points for a win *1 point for a draw ||||||||||||

### Pool 5

| Team | P | W | D | L | Tries for | Tries against | Try diff | Points for | Points against | Points diff | Pts |
| Bristol Shoguns (6) | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 21 | 12 | 9 | 189 | 115 | 74 | 10 |
| Neath | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 16 | 13 | 3 | 160 | 131 | 29 | 8 |
| Viadana | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 13 | 25 | −12 | 120 | 210 | −90 | 4 |
| Bourgoin | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 19 | 19 | 0 | 160 | 173 | −13 | 2 |
| Source : www.ercrugby.com Archived 2013-02-15 at archive.today Points breakdown: *2 points for a win *1 point for a draw ||||||||||||

### Pool 6

| Team | P | W | D | L | Tries for | Tries against | Try diff | Points for | Points against | Points diff | Pts |
| London Irish (5) | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 37 | 8 | 29 | 284 | 85 | 199 | 11 |
| Dax | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 42 | 9 | 33 | 306 | 119 | 187 | 9 |
| L'Aquila | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 11 | 34 | −23 | 107 | 239 | −132 | 4 |
| Valladolid RAC | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 7 | 46 | −39 | 53 | 307 | −254 | 0 |
| Source : www.ercrugby.com Archived 2013-02-15 at archive.today Points breakdown: *2 points for a win *1 point for a draw ||||||||||||

### Pool 7

| Team | P | W | D | L | Tries for | Tries against | Try diff | Points for | Points against | Points diff | Pts |
| Gloucester (2) | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 47 | 9 | 38 | 362 | 62 | 300 | 12 |
| La Rochelle | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 21 | 14 | 7 | 161 | 177 | −16 | 8 |
| Caerphilly | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 18 | 38 | −20 | 170 | 281 | −111 | 4 |
| Gran Parma | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 11 | 36 | −25 | 104 | 277 | −173 | 0 |
| Source : www.ercrugby.com Archived 2013-02-15 at archive.today Points breakdown: *2 points for a win *1 point for a draw ||||||||||||

### Pool 8

| Team | P | W | D | L | Tries for | Tries against | Try diff | Points for | Points against | Points diff | Pts |
| Saracens (1) | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 64 | 7 | 57 | 435 | 66 | 369 | 12 |
| Bordeaux-Bègles | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 53 | 15 | 38 | 354 | 117 | 237 | 8 |
| Dinamo București | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 15 | 58 | −43 | 102 | 403 | −301 | 2 |
| Bologna | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 9 | 61 | −52 | 93 | 398 | −305 | 2 |
| Source : www.ercrugby.com Archived 2013-02-15 at archive.today Points breakdown: *2 points for a win *1 point for a draw ||||||||||||

## Seeding

| Seed | Pool Winners | Pts | TF | +/- |
| 1 | Saracens | 12 | 64 | +369 |
| 2 | Gloucester | 12 | 47 | +300 |
| 3 | Sale Sharks | 12 | 40 | +207 |
| 4 | Pau | 12 | 27 | +154 |
| 5 | London Irish | 11 | 37 | +199 |
| 6 | Bristol Shoguns | 10 | 21 | +74 |
| 7 | Ebbw Vale | 8 | 15 | +63 |
| 8 | Pontypridd | 8 | 12 | +52 |

## Knockout stage

All kickoff times are local to the match location.

### Quarter-finals

* 25 January 2002 19:05
| Gloucester | 46–11 | Ebbw Vale |
| | Report | |
* Kingsholm Attendance: 6,816
* 25 January 2002 19:30
| Sale Sharks | 25–20 | Bristol Shoguns |
| | Report | |
* Heywood Road Attendance: 3,607
* 26 January 2002 19:30
| Pau | 9–38 | London Irish |
| | Report | |
* Stade du Hameau Attendance: 8,000
* 27 January 2002 15:00
| Saracens | 15–17 | Pontypridd |
| | Report | |
* Vicarage Road Attendance: 4,604

### Semi-finals

* 27 April 2002 17:30
| London Irish | 27–33 | Pontypridd |
| | Report | |
* Kassam Stadium Attendance: 7,882
* 28 April 2002 14:00
| Gloucester | 27–28 | Sale Sharks |
| | Report | |
* Franklin's Gardens Attendance: 5,785

### Final

* 26 May 2002 14:00
| Pontypridd | 22–25 | Sale Sharks |
| | Report | |
* Kassam Stadium Attendance: 12,000