2011–12 Heineken Cup

The default allocation of teams is as follows:[5]

• England: 6 teams, based on performance in the Aviva Premiership and Anglo-Welsh Cup[6]
• France: 6 teams, based on regular-season finish in the Top 14[7]
• Ireland: 3 teams, based on regular-season finish in the Celtic League[8]
• Wales: 3 teams, based on regular-season finish in the Celtic League[8]
• Italy and Scotland: 2 teams each, based on participation in the Celtic League (although there are only 2 from each nation)[8]

The remaining two places are filled by the winners of the previous year's Heineken Cup and Amlin Challenge Cup. If the cup winners are already qualified through their domestic league, an additional team from their country will claim a Heineken Cup place (assuming another team is available). Accordingly, Harlequins claimed the Challenge Cup winner's berth, and since Heineken Cup winners Leinster were already domestically qualified, the extra Irish berth went to Connacht.

The seeding system was the same as in the 2010–11 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 applies (with the exception of the inclusion of the seventh English team).[9]

The brackets show each team's European Rugby Club Ranking at the end of the 2010–11 season.

Tier 1	Leinster (1)	Toulouse (2)	Munster (3)	Cardiff Blues (4)	Biarritz (5)	Leicester Tigers (6)
Tier 2	Northampton (7)	Clermont Auvergne (10)	Ospreys (11)	Bath (12)	Harlequins (13)	London Irish (15)
Tier 3	Ulster (16)	Saracens (17)	Gloucester (18)	Glasgow (20)	Scarlets (21)	Edinburgh (24)
Tier 4	Connacht (25)	Benetton Treviso (30)	Castres (31)	Montpellier (32)	Racing Métro (33)	Aironi (37)

The draw for the pool stage took place on 7 June 2011.

Under rules of the competition organiser, European Rugby Cup, tiebreakers within each pool are as follows.[10]

• Competition points earned in head-to-head matches
• Total tries scored in head-to-head matches
• Point differential in head-to-head matches

ERC has four additional tiebreakers, used if tied teams are in different pools, or if the above steps cannot break a tie between teams in the same pool:

• Tries scored in all pool matches
• Point differential in all pool matches
• Best disciplinary record (fewest players receiving red or yellow cards in all pool matches)
• Coin toss

Pool 1

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	TB	LB	Pts
Munster	6	6	0	0	14	10	+4	163	118	+45	1	0	25
Scarlets	6	3	0	3	12	9	+3	119	124	−5	1	2	15
Northampton Saints	6	2	0	4	18	16	+2	176	160	+16	2	2	12
Castres	6	1	0	5	10	19	−9	111	167	−56	1	2	7

Pool 2

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	TB	LB	Pts
Edinburgh	6	5	0	1	17	11	+6	156	138	+18	2	0	22
Cardiff Blues	6	5	0	1	9	5	+4	145	110	+35	0	1	21
Racing Métro	6	1	0	5	13	19	−6	160	190	−30	1	4	9
London Irish	6	1	0	5	7	11	−4	116	139	−23	1	4	9

Pool 3

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	TB	LB	Pts
Leinster	6	5	1	0	18	7	+11	172	88	+84	2	0	24
Glasgow Warriors	6	2	1	3	8	12	−4	106	133	−27	0	2	12
Bath	6	2	0	4	11	15	−4	122	151	−29	0	3	11
Montpellier	6	1	2	3	8	11	−3	84	112	−28	0	2	10

Pool 4

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	TB	LB	Pts
Clermont Auvergne	6	4	0	2	26	5	+21	215	69	+146	2	2	20
Ulster	6	4	0	2	16	8	+8	158	87	+71	3	1	20
Leicester Tigers	6	4	0	2	13	8	+5	123	117	+6	1	0	17
Aironi	6	0	0	6	4	38	−34	51	274	−223	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
Saracens	6	5	0	1	13	10	+3	145	107	+38	1	1	22
Biarritz	6	3	0	3	18	7	+11	143	105	+42	3	3	18
Ospreys	6	2	1	3	13	16	−3	142	147	−5	1	2	13
Benetton Treviso	6	1	1	4	12	23	−11	102	167	−65	0	0	6

Pool 6

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	TB	LB	Pts
Toulouse	6	4	0	2	16	11	+5	150	105	+45	1	1	18
Harlequins	6	4	0	2	11	7	+4	122	94	+28	0	1	17
Gloucester	6	3	0	3	10	12	−2	111	122	−11	1	2	15
Connacht	6	1	0	5	5	12	−7	68	130	−62	0	2	6

Seeding and runners-up

• Bare numbers indicate Heineken Cup quarterfinal seeding.
• Numbers with "C" indicate Challenge Cup quarterfinal seeding.

Seed	Pool Winners	Pts	TF	+/−
1	Munster	25	14	+45
2	Leinster	24	18	+84
3	Edinburgh	22	17	+18
4	Saracens	22	13	+38
5	Clermont Auvergne	20	26	+146
6	Toulouse	18	16	+45
Seed	Pool Runners-up	Pts	TF	+/−
7	Cardiff Blues	21	9	+35
8	Ulster	20	16	+71
5C	Biarritz	18	18	+42
6C	Harlequins	17	11	+28
7C	Scarlets	15	12	−5
-	Glasgow Warriors	12	12	−27