The 2009–10 Heineken Cup was the 15th season of the Heineken Cup, the annual rugby union European club competition for clubs from the top six nations in European rugby. It started in October 2009 and ended on 22 May 2010 with the final at Stade de France in which Toulouse defeated Biarritz 21–19 to win the trophy for the fourth time.

Teams Seven English teams participated, as an English team, Leicester Tigers, progressed further in the previous year's tournament than any French or Italian team. France had six participants, Ireland three, Wales four, Italy two and Scotland two.

On 29 May 2009, Newport Gwent Dragons defeated Calvisano 42–17 in a play-off to secure the 24th and final qualification place.

EnglandFranceWalesIrelandScotlandItalyLeicester Tigers Harlequins London Irish Gloucester Bath Sale Sharks Northampton SaintsPerpignan Toulouse Clermont Stade Français Biarritz BriveOspreys Cardiff Blues Scarlets Newport Gwent DragonsLeinster Munster UlsterEdinburgh Glasgow WarriorsBenetton Treviso Viadana

Seeding The seeding system was the same as in the 2008–09 tournament. The 24 competing teams are ranked based on past Heineken Cup and European Challenge Cup performance, with each pool receiving one team from each quartile, or Tier. The requirement to have only one team per country in each pool, however, still applied (with the exception of the inclusion of the seventh English team).

The brackets show each team's European Rugby Club Ranking at the start of the 2009–10 season.

Tier 1 Munster (1) Leicester Tigers (2) Leinster (3) Toulouse (4) Bath (5) Biarritz (6) Tier 2 Cardiff Blues (8) Stade Français (9) Gloucester (10) Perpignan (11) Ospreys (13) London Irish (14) Tier 3 Northampton Saints (15) Sale Sharks (16) Clermont (17) Scarlets (18) Ulster (20) Newport Gwent Dragons (21) Tier 4 Harlequins (23) Glasgow Warriors (24) Edinburgh (26) Benetton Treviso (28) Brive (29) Viadana (36)

Pool stage

The draw for the pool stage took place on 9 June 2009 in Paris.

{| class="wikitable" |+ Key to colours |- |bgcolor="#ccffcc"|     |Winner of each pool, and best two runners-up,advance to quarterfinals. Seed # in parentheses |- |bgcolor="#ffffcc"|     |Third- through fifth- highest-scoring second-place teamsparachute into the knockout stage of the European Challenge Cup.Seed # in brackets

Pool 1 TeamPWDLTries forTries againstTry diffPoints forPoints againstPoints diffTBLBPts Munster (1)65011910918594913124 Northampton Saints (8)64021688138104342119 Perpignan620412102108123−151211 Benetton Treviso6105726−1968178−110015

Pool 2 TeamPWDLTries forTries againstTry diffPoints forPoints againstPoints diffTBLBPts Biarritz (2)65011981118897913023 Gloucester 640212120119129−101017 Glasgow Warriors6204914−5120140−20019 Newport Gwent Dragons61051218−6108169−61026

Pool 3 TeamPWDLTries forTries againstTry diffPoints forPoints againstPoints diffTBLBPts Clermont Auvergne (5)6402241113201120813221 Ospreys (7)6411211110188121672020 Leicester Tigers6312231013187123643118 Viadana6006642−3683295−212000

Pool 4 TeamPWDLTries forTries againstTry diffPoints forPoints againstPoints diffTBLBPts Stade Français (6)6402117412495291118 Ulster 6402116512794330117 Edinburgh6303310−76494−300113 Bath610568−284116−32037

Pool 5 TeamPWDLTries forTries againstTry diffPoints forPoints againstPoints diffTBLBPts Toulouse (3)6501139414392512123 Cardiff Blues 640214104149104451118 Sale Sharks63031516−1126153−271114 Harlequins60061320−7102171−69022

Pool 6 TeamPWDLTries forTries againstTry diffPoints forPoints againstPoints diffTBLBPts Leinster (4)64111961315460943122 Scarlets 64021220−8116147−311017 London Irish6312168814094462117 Brive6006720−1368177−109011

Scarlets win the tiebreaker over London Irish by virtue of winning both of the matches between the two teams.

Seeding and runners-up Bare numbers indicate Heineken Cup quarterfinal seeding. Numbers with "C" indicate Challenge Cup quarterfinal seeding.

SeedPool WinnersPtsTF+/−1 Munster 2419+912 Biarritz2319+913 Toulouse2314+514 Leinster 2219+945 Clermont2124+816 Stade Français1811+29SeedPool Runners-upPtsTF+/−7 Ospreys2017+678 Northampton1916+345C Cardiff Blues1814+456C Gloucester1712−107C Scarlets1712−29 – Ulster 1711+33

Knock-out stage The semi-final draw was conducted on 24 January in Paris. The winner of the topmost quarter-final on each side of the bracket receives home-country advantage in its semi-final. (The competition organisers have traditionally allowed Biarritz to take semi-finals to Spain, as it has stadiums that meet Heineken Cup semi-final hosting requirements that are far closer to Biarritz than any acceptable venue in France. The club also enjoys large support in the Basque Country of Spain, a region with which it shares a cultural affinity.)

All times are local times.

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

The final was played at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, Saint-Denis.

Leading scorers

Points RankNameClubAppearancesPoints1 Dimitri Yachvili Biarritz71132 Ronan O'Gara Munster8983 Dan Biggar Ospreys7904 Brock James Clermont Auvergne7765 Ben Blair Cardiff Blues675

Tries RankNameClubAppearancesTries1 Tommy Bowe Ospreys772 Chris Ashton Northampton Saints66 Scott Hamilton Leicester Tigers66 Takudzwa Ngwenya Biarritz765 Julien Malzieu Clermont Auvergne65 Napolioni Nalaga Clermont Auvergne55

See also 2009–10 European Challenge Cup

Notes and references