Heineken Cup: Encyclopedia II - Heineken Cup - History

Heineken Cup - History

The Heineken Cup began in 1995-96 with a dozen sides representing Ireland, Wales, Italy, Romania (though Romanian teams no longer take part) and France. English and Scottish teams did not compete until 1996-97 as they were already committed to their domestic schedules. From an inauspicious beginning in Romania, where Toulouse thrashed Farul Constanta 54-10 in front of a small crowd, the competition gathered momentum and crowds grew. Toulouse went on to become the first European rugby champions, eventually beating the world renowned Cardiff RFC in extra time. A tense and historic occasion at the now demolished Cardiff Arms Park National Stadium.

Brive won the next tournament and reached the final again in 1997-98 but were beaten late in the game by Bath with a penalty kick. However English clubs had decided to withdraw from the competition due to a dispute between European Rugby and the RFU over fixture scheduling and money.

Without English clubs the 1998-99 tournament revolved around the Celtic fringes, France and Italy. For the fourth consecutive year a French club, in the shape of Colomiers from the Toulouse suburbs, reached the final. But it was Ulster playing at Lansdowne Road, Dublin who carried home the trophy after a 21-6 win.

English clubs returned in 1999. The pool stages were spread over three months to allow the competition to develop alongside the nations’ own domestic competitions, and the knockout stages were scheduled to take the tournament into the early spring. The 1999-2000 competition was decided with a final between Munster and Northampton, with Northampton coming out on top by a single point.

Since then the tournament has gone from strength to strength with Leicester Tigers becoming the first side to successfully defend their title, beating Stade Francais in the 2001 final and Munster in 2002.

Toulouse's victory over French rivals Perpignan in 2003 meant that they joined the Tigers as the only teams to win the title twice.

The 2004 final saw English side London Wasps defeat Toulouse at Twickenham to win the Heineken Cup for the first time.

In the 2005 final, Toulouse became the first club to win the title three times by defeating another French club, Stade Français of Paris, at Murrayfield.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "History", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki