The pool stage of the 2008–09 Heineken Cup began on 10 October 2008, with the final match played on 25 January 2009. This was the first year for which qualified teams were seeded for the group stage.
Ranking system The 24 teams were ranked according to previous progress in the Heineken Cup, with teams from the same tier and same country being placed in separate pools. The brackets show each team's ERC Ranking before the start of the 2008–2009 season. Tier 1 Munster (1) Toulouse (2) Biarritz (3) Leicester Tigers (4) Stade Français (5) London Wasps (6) Tier 2 Leinster (7) Bath (8) Gloucester (9) Perpignan (10) Sale Sharks (12) Scarlets (13) Tier 3 Ospreys (15) Cardiff Blues (17) Clermont (18) Newport Gwent Dragons (20) Ulster (21) Castres (22) Tier 4 Glasgow Warriors (24) Benetton Treviso (25) Edinburgh (28) Calvisano (32) Harlequins (35) Montauban
The draw for the pool stage took place on 17 June 2008 in Dublin.BBC SPORT | Rugby Union | Heineken Cup draw - full details
Pool stage
The draw for the pool stages took place on 17 June 2008 in Dublin.
{| class="wikitable" |+ Key to colours |- | style="background:#cfc;"| | Winner of each pool,advance to quarterfinals. Seed # in parentheses |- | style="background:#ccf;"| | Two highest-scoring second-place teams,advance to quarterfinals. Seed # in parentheses
Pool 1 TeamPWDLTries forTries againstTry diffPoints forPoints againstPoints diffTBLBPts Munster (2)65011861216198632123 Sale630314113136115212115 Clermont63031413113712981013 Montauban6105521−1681173−92026
Munster qualified for the quarter-finals as Pool 1 winners following a bonus point fifth round home win over Sale.Munster 37-14 Sale
Pool 2 TeamPWDLTries forTries againstTry diffPoints forPoints againstPoints diffTBLBPts Leinster (6)64021531214070702220 Wasps6402912−311411220117 Edinburgh620488091103−12109 Castres6204615−973133−60019
Pool 3 TeamPWDLTries forTries againstTry diffPoints forPoints againstPoints diffTBLBPts Leicester Tigers (4)640223617191901013221 Ospreys (7)64021731415571842220 Perpignan640217107154120341118 Benetton Treviso6006543−3872291−219000
Pool 4 TeamPWDLTries forTries againstTry diffPoints forPoints againstPoints diffTBLBPts Harlequins (3)650116124144115292022 Stade Français630313112131109221215 Ulster621313130113134−210111 Scarlets61141218−6124154−30028
Harlequins qualified for the quarter-finals as Pool 4 winners following the Scarlets' fifth round home win over Stade Français.Scarlets 31-17 Stade Francais
Pool 5 TeamPWDLTries forTries againstTry diffPoints forPoints againstPoints diffTBLBPts Bath (5)6411138510792152121 Toulouse (8)6411128412188331120 Glasgow62041417−3134150−161312 Newport Gwent Dragons6105814−683115−32037
Pool 6 TeamPWDLTries forTries againstTry diffPoints forPoints againstPoints diffTBLBPts Cardiff Blues (1)660023914202991033027 Biarritz63031441012188331215 Gloucester630317125156109472115 Calvisano6006837−2987270−183000
Notes: Cardiff Blues qualified for the quarter-finals as Pool 6 winners with a fifth round away win over Gloucester.Gloucester 12 - Cardiff 16. The bonus point win in the final round of the group stages secured their position as top seed and a home quarter-final. Cardiff Blues become only the sixth side in the competition's history to win all six of their pool matches. Biarritz place above Gloucester by virtue of having scored more tries in their two head-to-head matches: 4 to 2.
Seeding and runners-up The winners of each of the six pools are seeded 1 to 6 first by points, then tries scored, and finally score difference. The runners-up are similarly sorted, and the best two are seeded seven and eight and progress to the quarter-finals alongside the six winners. The top four seeds are given home matches in the quarter-finals, with seed 1 playing seed 8, seed 2 playing seed 7 etc.
SeedPool winnersPtsTF+/-1 Cardiff Blues2723+1032 Munster2318+633 Harlequins2216+294 Leicester Tigers2123+1015 Bath2113+156 Leinster2015+70SeedPool runners-upPtsTF+/-7 Ospreys2017+848 Toulouse2012+33 - Wasps177+8 - Biarritz1514+33 - Sale1514+21 - Stade Français1513+22
References
External links European Rugby Cup : Pools