# 1997–98 Heineken Cup

The 1997–98 Heineken Cup was the third edition of the Heineken Cup European rugby union club competition. Competing professional club teams from France, Ireland, Italy, Wales, England and Scotland, were divided into five pools of four, in which teams played home and away matches against each other. The pool winners automatically qualified for the knock-out stages. The five runners-up and the best third placed team entered the play-offs, where they competed for the remaining three quarter final positions.

## Teams

| England | Ireland | Italy | France | Scotland | Wales |
| Leicester Tigers London Wasps Bath Harlequins | Leinster Munster Ulster | Treviso Rugby Milano | Toulouse Brive Pau Bourgoin | Glasgow Borders Caledonia | Swansea Pontypridd Llanelli Cardiff |

## Pool stage

In the pool matches teams received
* 2 points for a win
* 1 points for a draw
Key to colours :
* Winner of each pool advances to quarter-final stage
* Advance to quarter-final playoffs

### Pool 1

| Team | P | W | D | L | Tries for | Tries against | Try diff | Points for | Points against | Points diff | Pts |
| Toulouse | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 25 | 12 | 13 | 200 | 121 | 79 | 10 |
| Leicester | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 16 | 14 | 2 | 163 | 117 | 46 | 8 |
| Leinster | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 15 | 19 | −4 | 137 | 167 | −30 | 4 |
| Milan | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 15 | 26 | −11 | 111 | 206 | −95 | 2 |

### Pool 2

| Team | P | W | D | L | Tries for | Tries against | Try diff | Points for | Points against | Points diff | Pts |
| Wasps | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 31 | 12 | 19 | 243 | 104 | 139 | 12 |
| Glasgow | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 14 | 15 | −1 | 132 | 167 | −35 | 6 |
| Swansea | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 15 | 16 | −1 | 157 | 161 | −4 | 4 |
| Ulster | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 23 | −17 | 95 | 195 | −100 | 2 |

### Pool 3

| Team | P | W | D | L | Tries for | Tries against | Try diff | Points for | Points against | Points diff | Pts |
| Bath | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 12 | 0 | 141 | 119 | 22 | 10 |
| Brive | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 24 | 13 | 11 | 210 | 146 | 64 | 9 |
| Pontypridd | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 17 | 13 | 4 | 154 | 147 | 7 | 5 |
| Scottish Borders | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 14 | 29 | −15 | 129 | 222 | −93 | 0 |

### Pool 4

| Team | P | W | D | L | Tries for | Tries against | Try diff | Points for | Points against | Points diff | Pts |
| Harlequins | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 21 | 12 | 9 | 198 | 141 | 57 | 8 |
| Cardiff | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 17 | 15 | 2 | 184 | 146 | 38 | 8 |
| Bourgoin | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 14 | 21 | −7 | 141 | 180 | −39 | 4 |
| Munster | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 11 | −4 | 93 | 149 | −56 | 4 |

### Pool 5

| Team | P | W | D | L | Tries for | Tries against | Try diff | Points for | Points against | Points diff | Pts |
| Pau | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 27 | 8 | 19 | 203 | 89 | 114 | 8 |
| Llanelli | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 15 | 18 | −3 | 144 | 142 | 2 | 8 |
| Benetton Treviso | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 18 | 19 | −1 | 146 | 162 | −16 | 4 |
| Caledonia | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 23 | −15 | 89 | 189 | −100 | 4 |

## Seeding

| Seed | Pool Winners | Pts | TF | +/− |
| 1 | London Wasps | 12 | 31 | +139 |
| 2 | Toulouse | 10 | 25 | +79 |
| 3 | Bath | 10 | 12 | +22 |
| 4 | Pau | 8 | 27 | +114 |
| 5 | Harlequins | 8 | 21 | +57 |
| Seed | Pool Runners-up (and best third place) | Pts | TF | +/− |
| 6 | Brive | 9 | 24 | +64 |
| 7 | Cardiff | 8 | 17 | +38 |
| 8 | Leicester Tigers | 8 | 16 | +46 |
| 9 | Llanelli | 8 | 15 | +2 |
| 10 | Glasgow | 6 | 14 | −35 |
| 11 | Pontypridd | 5 | 17 | +7 |

## Knockout stage
### Quarter-final play-offs

* 1 November 1997 15:00
| Leicester Tigers | 90 – 19 | Glasgow |
* Welford Road Attendance: 6,500
* 1 November 1997 16:30
| Brive | 25 – 20 | Pontypridd |
* Parc Municipal des Sports Attendance: 13,000
* 1 November 1997 17:15
| Cardiff | 24 – 20 | Llanelli |
* Cardiff Arms Park Attendance: 8,000

### Quarter-finals

* 8 November 1997 14:15
| Bath | 32 – 21 | Cardiff |
* Recreation Ground Attendance: 8,200
* 8 November 1997 15:30
| Toulouse | 51 – 10 | Harlequins |
* Stade Municipal Attendance: 18,000
* 9 November 1997 14:15
| London Wasps | 18 – 25 | Brive |
* Loftus Road Stadium Attendance: 10,481
* 9 November 1997 15:20
| Pau | 35 – 18 | Leicester Tigers |
* Stade Municipal du Hameau Attendance: 12,000

### Semi-finals

* 20 December 1997 14:00
| Bath | 20 – 14 | Pau |
* Recreation Ground Attendance: 8,200
* 21 December 1997 15:20
| Toulouse | 22 – 22 | Brive |
* Stade Municipal Attendance: 26,000
Brive advance to final on try count (two tries to one)

### Final

* 31 January 1998 15:30
| Bath | 19 – 18 | Brive |
| Try: Callard Con: Callard Pen: Callard (4) | Report | Pen: Lamaison (5) Drop: Penaud |
* Stade du Parc Lescure, Bordeaux Attendance: 36,500 Referee: Jim Fleming (Scotland)