# 2005–06 Heineken Cup

The 2005–06 Heineken Cup was the eleventh edition of the European Heineken Cup rugby union club tournament. 24 teams from 7 countries took part, with the opening game played on Friday October 21, 2005. Munster won the tournament, beating Biarritz in the final held at Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, on 20 May 2006.
The teams were divided into six pools of four, in which teams played home and away matches against each other. The winners of the pools, together with the two best runners-up, qualified for the knock-out stage.

## Format

In the pool matches, teams receive:
* four points for a win
* two points for a draw
* a bonus point for scoring four or more tries
* a bonus point for losing by seven or fewer points
Ties between two teams are broken in the following order:
* Match points earned in head-to-head matches. For example, if tied teams are in the same pool, and split their head-to-head matches, but one team earned a bonus point and the other failed to do so, the team that earned the bonus point will win. Munster won a tiebreaker over Sale Sharks in Pool 1 in this very manner.
* Tries scored in head-to-head matches.
* Point difference in head-to-head matches.
* Tries scored in all pool matches. This is the first tiebreaker between teams in different pools, which can come into play for determining seeding among first-place teams, or breaking ties among second-place teams.
* Point difference in all pool matches.
* Best disciplinary record in pool play. The team with the fewest players sent off or sin-binned during pool play wins.
* Coin toss.
The quarterfinals are seeded from 1 to 8. The six pool winners receive the top six seeds, based on their point totals. The top two-second-place finishers are seeded 7 and 8. The seeds of the qualifying teams are in parentheses next to their names in the tables.

## Teams

| France | England | Wales | Ireland | Scotland | Italy |
| Castres Perpignan Stade Français Clermont Auvergne Biarritz Bourgoin Toulouse | Sale Sharks Leeds Tykes Leicester Tigers Saracens Bath London Wasps | Newport Gwent Dragons Cardiff Blues Ospreys Llanelli Scarlets | Munster Ulster Leinster | Glasgow Edinburgh | Calvisano Benetton Treviso |

## Pool stage

Full results can be found at 2005–06 Heineken Cup pool stage. All times are local to the match location.

### Pool 1

| Team | P | W | D | L | Tries for | Tries against | Try diff | Points for | Points against | Points diff | TB | LB | Pts |
| Munster (4) | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 22 | 6 | 16 | 186 | 87 | 99 | 3 | 0 | 23 |
| Sale Sharks (7) | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 17 | 9 | 8 | 159 | 84 | 75 | 3 | 0 | 23 |
| Newport Gwent Dragons | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 14 | 20 | −6 | 99 | 168 | −69 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| Castres | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 26 | −18 | 90 | 195 | −105 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
Note: Munster took first place over Sale Sharks on competition points in head-to-head matches, 5–4.

### Pool 2

| Team | P | W | D | L | Tries for | Tries against | Try diff | Points for | Points against | Points diff | TB | LB | Pts |
| Perpignan (5) | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 20 | 5 | 15 | 160 | 52 | 108 | 2 | 1 | 23 |
| Leeds Tykes | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 19 | 9 | 10 | 143 | 91 | 52 | 3 | 1 | 20 |
| Cardiff Blues | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 16 | 18 | −2 | 128 | 145 | −17 | 3 | 0 | 15 |
| Calvisano | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 4 | 27 | −23 | 48 | 191 | −143 | 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 |
| Leicester Tigers (3) | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 19 | 10 | 9 | 179 | 111 | 68 | 3 | 1 | 24 |
| Stade Français | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 16 | 7 | 9 | 148 | 98 | 50 | 2 | 2 | 20 |
| Ospreys | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 9 | 20 | −11 | 90 | 144 | −54 | 0 | 1 | 9 |
| Clermont Auvergne | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 14 | 21 | −7 | 136 | 200 | −64 | 1 | 1 | 6 |

### Pool 4

| Team | P | W | D | L | Tries for | Tries against | Try diff | Points for | Points against | Points diff | TB | LB | Pts |
| Biarritz (2) | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 24 | 10 | 14 | 182 | 93 | 89 | 4 | 0 | 24 |
| Saracens | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 13 | −1 | 128 | 129 | −1 | 1 | 0 | 17 |
| Ulster | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 15 | 13 | 2 | 126 | 111 | 15 | 2 | 0 | 14 |
| Benetton Treviso | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 13 | 28 | −15 | 104 | 207 | −103 | 2 | 1 | 3 |

### Pool 5

| Team | P | W | D | L | Tries for | Tries against | Try diff | Points for | Points against | Points diff | TB | LB | Pts |
| Bath (6) | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 18 | 9 | 9 | 166 | 111 | 55 | 3 | 0 | 23 |
| Leinster (8) | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 28 | 13 | 15 | 214 | 124 | 90 | 4 | 2 | 22 |
| Bourgoin | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 9 | 24 | −15 | 109 | 195 | −86 | 1 | 0 | 9 |
| Glasgow | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 16 | 25 | −9 | 131 | 190 | −59 | 1 | 1 | 6 |

### Pool 6

| Team | P | W | D | L | Tries for | Tries against | Try diff | Points for | Points against | Points diff | TB | LB | Pts |
| Toulouse (1) | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 22 | 11 | 11 | 188 | 124 | 64 | 3 | 0 | 25 |
| Wasps | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 18 | 13 | 5 | 173 | 118 | 55 | 2 | 2 | 14 |
| Llanelli Scarlets | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 18 | 26 | −8 | 152 | 206 | −54 | 2 | 2 | 12 |
| Edinburgh | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 14 | 22 | −8 | 121 | 186 | −65 | 1 | 2 | 11 |

## Seeding and runners-up

| Seed | Pool Winners | Pts | TF | +/− |
| 1 | Toulouse | 25 | 22 | +64 |
| 2 | Biarritz | 24 | 24 | +89 |
| 3 | Leicester Tigers | 24 | 19 | +68 |
| 4 | Munster | 23 | 22 | +99 |
| 5 | Perpignan | 23 | 20 | +108 |
| 6 | Bath | 23 | 18 | +55 |
| Seed | Pool runners-up | Pts | TF | +/− |
| 7 | Sale Sharks | 23 | 17 | +75 |
| 8 | Leinster | 22 | 28 | +90 |
| – | Leeds Tykes | 20 | 19 | +108 |
| – | Stade Français | 20 | 16 | +50 |
| – | Saracens | 17 | 12 | −1 |
| – | London Wasps | 14 | 18 | +55 |

## Knockout stage
### Quarter-finals

* 1 April 2006 12:30
| Leicester Tigers | 12–15 | Bath |
| Pen: Goode (4) 2', 18', 33', 45' | Report | Pen: Malone (5) 7', 28', 31', 51', 62' |
* Walkers Stadium, Leicester Attendance: 32,500 Referee: Joël Jutge (France)
* 1 April 2006 16:00
| Toulouse | 35–41 | Leinster |
| Try: Nyanga 73' c Jauzion 80' c Con: Élissalde (2) Pen: Élissalde (6) 6', 12', 32', 42', 48', 57' Drop: Michalak 50' | Report | Try: O'Driscoll 24' c Jowitt 53' c Hickie 59' m Horgan 63' c Con: Contepomi (3) Pen: Contepomi (5) 9', 16', 18', 34', 67' |
* Stade de Toulouse, Toulouse Attendance: 37,815 Referee: Dave Pearson (England)
* 1 April 2006 17:30
| Munster | 19–10 | Perpignan |
| Try: O'Connell 20' c Con: O'Gara Pen: O'Gara (4) 41', 46', 65', 68' | Report | Try: Bourret 28' c Con: Bourret Pen: Bourret 36' |
* Lansdowne Road, Dublin Attendance: 48,500 Referee: Nigel Whitehouse (Wales)
* 2 April 2006 18:00
| Biarritz | 11–6 | Sale Sharks |
| Try: Bobo 32' m Pen: Yachvili (2) 20', 26' | Report | Pen: Hodgson (2) 25', 75' |
* Estadio Anoeta, San Sebastián Attendance: 32,000 Referee: Alan Lewis (Ireland)

### Semi-finals

* 22 April 2006 15:00
| Biarritz | 18–9 | Bath |
| Pen: Yachvili (5) 4', 16', 21', 43', 78' Drop: Traille 45' | Report | Pen: Malone (3) 17', 23', 64' |
* Estadio Anoeta, San Sebastián Attendance: 31,700 Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)
* 23 April 2006 15:00
| Leinster | 6–30 | Munster |
| Pen: Contepomi (2) 22', 71' | Report | Try: Leamy 10' c O'Gara 74' c Halstead 80' c Con: O'Gara (3) Pen: O'Gara (3) 2', 24', 32' |
* Lansdowne Road, Dublin Attendance: 47,800 Referee: Joël Jutge (France)

### Final

* 20 May 2006 15:00
| Biarritz | 19–23 | Munster |
| Try: Bobo 2' c Con: Yachvili Pen: Yachvili (4) 22', 48', 51', 70' | Report | Try: Halstead 17' c Stringer 31' c Con: O'Gara (2) Pen: O'Gara (3) 7', 42', 73' |
* Millennium Stadium, Cardiff Attendance: 74,534 Referee: Chris White (England)

## Statistics
### Top point scorers

* 131 – Felipe Contepomi (Leinster)
* 115 – Ronan O'Gara (Munster)
* 99 – Andy Goode (Leicester Tigers)

### Top try scorers

* 6 – Sireli Bobo (Biarritz Olympique)
* 6 – Vincent Clerc (Toulouse)
* 6 – Felipe Contepomi (Leinster)