# 2009–10 European Challenge Cup

The 2009–10 Amlin Challenge Cup was the 14th season of the European Challenge Cup, the annual rugby union European club competition for clubs from six nations in European rugby. It started on 8 October 2009 at Sixways Stadium in Worcester with Worcester Warriors hosting Montpellier, and ended with the final at Stade Vélodrome in Marseille on 23 May 2010. The reigning champions were Northampton Saints, who did not defend their title as they qualified for the 2009–10 Heineken Cup. Cardiff Blues won the trophy after a 28–21 win against Toulon.

## Teams

Five English teams and eight French teams competed because an English team – Leicester Tigers – progressed farther in the 2008–09 Heineken Cup than any French or Italian team.
Other countries will have their usual number of teams: Ireland one, Romania one and one from Spain.
| France | England | Italy | Ireland | Romania | Spain |
| Albi Bayonne Bourgoin Castres Olympique Montauban Montpellier Racing Métro Toulon | Leeds Carnegie London Wasps Newcastle Falcons Saracens Worcester Warriors | Overmach Parma Petrarca Padova Rovigo Roma Olimpic | Connacht | București Oaks | Olympus Madrid |

## Pool stage

The draw for the pool stages took place on 15 June 2009. The seeding system was the same as for the 2008–09 tournament. The 20 competing teams were ranked based on past Heineken Cup and European Challenge Cup performance, with each pool receiving one team from each Tier. The requirement to have only one team per country in each pool was, however, still apply (with the exception of the inclusion of the sixth, seventh and eight French teams).
Beginning with this season's competition, only the pool winners advanced to the knockout stage. They were joined by three clubs from the 2009–10 Heineken Cup, specifically the third through fifth highest-ranking teams that finished second in their pool (the top two second-place teams entered the Heineken Cup knockout stage).

### Team seedings

Seeding was determined by the teams' position in the ERC Rankings at the time of the pool draw in June 2009.
| Rank | Team | Total points | 2008–09 points | 2007–08 points | 2006–07 points | 2005–06 points |
| 7 | London Wasps | 19 | 3 | 2 | 11 | 3 |
| 12 | Saracens | 14 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 3 |
| 19 | Bourgoin | 8 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| 22 | Worcester | 7 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 2 |
| 25 | Newcastle | 6 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| 27 | Castres | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 30 | Leeds | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 31 | Calvisano | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 34 | Connacht | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 35 | Montauban | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 37 | Montpellier | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 38 | Overmach Parma | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 39 | Bayonne | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
    Key to colours   Winner of each pool, advanced to quarterfinals Along with 3rd, 4th and 5th best runners up in the Heineken Cup group stages. Seed # in parentheses

### Pool 1

| Team | P | W | D | L | Tries for | Tries against | Try diff | Points for | Points against | Points diff | TB | LB | Pts |
| Bourgoin | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 16 | 6 | +10 | 141 | 86 | +55 | 2 | 1 | 23 |
| Leeds Carnegie | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 19 | 6 | +13 | 160 | 82 | +78 | 3 | 0 | 19 |
| Overmach Parma | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 17 | −12 | 78 | 145 | −67 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| București Oaks | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 16 | −11 | 70 | 136 | −66 | 0 | 3 | 7 |

### Pool 2

| Team | P | W | D | L | Tries for | Tries against | Try diff | Points for | Points against | Points diff | TB | LB | Pts |
| Connacht | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 28 | 5 | +23 | 199 | 63 | +136 | 2 | 0 | 26 |
| Montpellier | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 18 | 10 | +8 | 158 | 92 | +66 | 2 | 1 | 19 |
| Worcester Warriors | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 18 | 8 | +10 | 140 | 83 | +57 | 2 | 3 | 13 |
| Olympus Madrid | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 4 | 45 | −41 | 44 | 303 | −269 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

### Pool 3

| Team | P | W | D | L | Tries for | Tries against | Try diff | Points for | Points against | Points diff | TB | LB | Pts |
| Toulon | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 27 | 7 | +20 | 218 | 88 | +130 | 3 | 0 | 23 |
| Saracens | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 17 | 6 | +11 | 184 | 83 | +101 | 2 | 0 | 22 |
| Castres Olympique | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 24 | 12 | +12 | 173 | 127 | +46 | 2 | 1 | 11 |
| Rovigo | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 46 | −43 | 41 | 318 | −277 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

### Pool 4

| Team | P | W | D | L | Tries for | Tries against | Try diff | Points for | Points against | Points diff | TB | LB | Pts |
| London Wasps | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 21 | 3 | +18 | 176 | 69 | +107 | 2 | 1 | 23 |
| Bayonne | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 23 | 4 | −19 | 184 | 73 | +111 | 2 | 1 | 19 |
| Racing Métro | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 22 | 7 | +15 | 177 | 85 | +92 | 2 | 2 | 16 |
| Rugby Roma Olimpic | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 53 | −52 | 28 | 338 | −310 | 0 | 0 | 0 |

### Pool 5

| Team | P | W | D | L | Tries for | Tries against | Try diff | Points for | Points against | Points diff | TB | LB | Pts |
| Newcastle Falcons | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 16 | 6 | +10 | 146 | 77 | +69 | 2 | 1 | 23 |
| Montauban | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 9 | +4 | 132 | 96 | +36 | 1 | 0 | 21 |
| Albi | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 13 | 14 | −1 | 117 | 137 | −20 | 2 | 2 | 12 |
| Petrarca Padova | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 9 | 22 | −13 | 95 | 180 | −85 | 0 | 1 | 1 |

## Seeding

* Bare numbers indicate Challenge quarterfinal seeding.
* Numbers with "HC" indicate Heineken Cup 3rd-5th Runners-Up.
| Seeds | Top 4 Pool Winners | Pts | TF | +/− |
| 1 | Connacht | 26 | 28 | +136 |
| 2 | Toulon | 23 | 27 | +130 |
| 3 | London Wasps | 23 | 21 | +108 |
| 4 | Newcastle Falcons | 23 | 16 | +69 |
| Non-Seeds | (Worst Pool Winner and HC Runners-up) | Pts | TF | +/− |
| 5HC | Cardiff Blues | 18 | 14 | +45 |
| 6HC | Gloucester | 17 | 12 | -10 |
| 7HC | Scarlets | 17 | 12 | -31 |
| 8 | Bourgoin | 23 | 15 | +55 |

## Knock-out stage
### Quarter-finals

* 10 April 2010 13:00
| Connacht | 23–20 | Bourgoin |
| Try: Swift 17' c Muldoon 36' c Con: Keatley (2/2) Pen: Nikora (2/2) 66', 73' Drop: Nikora (1/1) 79' | Report | Try: Kopelani 30' c Senio 59' c Con: Boyet (2/2) Pen: Boyet (2/5) 39', 44' |
* Galway Sportsgrounds, Galway Attendance: 3,500 Referee: Andrew Small (England)
* 10 April 2010 21:00
| Toulon | 38–12 | Scarlets |
| Try: Marienval (2) 29' c, 41' c Sinzelle 72' m Williams 76' m Missoup 80'+1' m Con: Wilkinson (2/3) Pen: Wilkinson (3/3) 9', 36', 40' | Report | Pen: S. Jones (4/6) 11', 23', 44', 47' |
* Stade Mayol, Toulon Attendance: 12,600 Referee: Peter Fitzgibbon (Ireland)
* 11 April 2010 14:00
| London Wasps | 42–26 | Gloucester |
| Try: Jacobs 6' c Betsen 22' c Varndell (3) 33' c, 72' m, 80' c Con: Cipriani (4/5) Pen: Cipriani (3/3) 18', 40', 43' | Report | Try: Eustace 25' c Sharples 77' c Con: Robinson (2/2) Pen: Robinson (4/4) 5', 10', 38', 56' |
* Adams Park, High Wycombe Attendance: 6,289 Referee: Christophe Berdos (France)
* 11 April 2010 15:00
| Newcastle Falcons | 20–55 | Cardiff Blues |
| Try: Amesbury 15' c Young 66' c Con: Gopperth (2/2) Pen: Gopperth (2/3) 11', 18' | Report | Try: Laulala 9' c M. Williams 13' c Filise (2) 42' c, 57' c Blair 52' Roberts 55' c Sweeney 74' c Con: Blair (7/7) Pen: Blair (2/2) 32', 46' |
* Kingston Park, Newcastle Attendance: 4,346 Referee: Jérôme Garces (France)

### Semi-finals

* 30 April 2010 19:45
| Connacht | 12–19 | Toulon |
| Pen: Keatley (4/4) 2', 21', 37', 44' Nikora (0/1) Drop: Keatley (0/1) | Report | Try: Kefu 40'+10' c Con: Wilkinson (1/1) Pen: Wilkinson (3/3) 10', 19', 35' Drop: Wilkinson (1/3) 26' |
* Galway Sportsgrounds, Galway Attendance: 7,000 Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)
* 1 May 2010 18:00
| London Wasps | 15–18 | Cardiff Blues |
| Pen: Walder (5/6) 20', 32', 35', 41', 62' | Report | Try: Halfpenny 27' m Jenkins 59' c Con: Blair (1/2) Pen: Blair (2/5) 38', 52' |
* Adams Park, High Wycombe Attendance: 8,413 Referee: Romain Poite (France)

### Final

On 28 April 2010, the competition organiser, European Rugby Cup, announced that the final would be held on 23 May. The time was set at 13:00 UTC (14:00 BST, 15:00 CEST), but the location would depend on the result of the Connacht–Toulon semi-final. Since Toulon won, the final was held at Stade Vélodrome in Marseille.
Cardiff Blues were designated as the home team for the final. However, it was an effective home game for Toulon; Stade Vélodrome hosted two of that club's matches in their domestic season. Cardiff Blues won the final against Toulon by 28–21.
* 23 May 2010 15:00
| Cardiff Blues | 28–21 | Toulon |
| Try: Roberts 50' c Halfpenny 65' m Davies 69' c Con: Blair (2/3) Pen: Halfpenny (1/2) 6' Blair (2/2) 22', 60' | Report | Try: Williams 37' c Sourice 77' m Con: Wilkinson (1/1) Pen: Wilkinson (2/3) 12', 32' May (1/1) 55' |
* Stade Vélodrome, Marseille Attendance: 48,990 Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)