2009–10 Amlin Challenge Cup
Tournament details
Countries	England  France  Ireland  Italy  Romania  Spain  Wales
Tournament format(s)	Round-robin and Knockout
Date	9 October 2009 to 23 May 2010
Tournament statistics
Teams	20
Matches played	67
Top point scorer(s)	Jimmy Gopperth (Newcastle) (74 points)
Top try scorer(s)	Tom Varndell (Wasps) (10 tries)
Final
Venue	Stade Vélodrome, Marseille
Attendance	48,990[1]
Champions	Cardiff Blues (1st title)
Runners-up	Toulon

The 2009–10 Amlin Challenge Cup was the 14th season of the European Challenge Cup, the annual rugby union European club competition for clubs from six nations in European rugby. It started on 8 October 2009 at Sixways Stadium in Worcester with Worcester Warriors hosting Montpellier, and ended with the final at Stade Vélodrome in Marseille on 23 May 2010. The reigning champions were Northampton Saints, who did not defend their title as they qualified for the 2009–10 Heineken Cup. Cardiff Blues won the trophy after a 28–21 win against Toulon.^[2]

Teams

Five English teams and eight French teams competed because an English team – Leicester Tigers – progressed farther in the 2008–09 Heineken Cup than any French or Italian team.

Other countries will have their usual number of teams: Ireland one, Romania one and one from Spain.^[3]

Pool stage

The draw for the pool stages took place on 15 June 2009. The seeding system was the same as for the 2008–09 tournament. The 20 competing teams were ranked based on past Heineken Cup and European Challenge Cup performance, with each pool receiving one team from each Tier.^[5] The requirement to have only one team per country in each pool was, however, still apply (with the exception of the inclusion of the sixth, seventh and eight French teams).

Beginning with this season's competition, only the pool winners advanced to the knockout stage. They were joined by three clubs from the 2009–10 Heineken Cup, specifically the third through fifth highest-ranking teams that finished second in their pool (the top two second-place teams entered the Heineken Cup knockout stage).^[6]

Pool 1

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	TB	LB	Pts
Bourgoin	6	5	0	1	16	6	+10	141	86	+55	2	1	23
Leeds Carnegie	6	4	0	2	19	6	+13	160	82	+78	3	0	19
Overmach Parma	6	2	0	4	5	17	−12	78	145	−67	0	0	8
București Oaks	6	1	0	5	5	16	−11	70	136	−66	0	3	7

Pool 2

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	TB	LB	Pts
Connacht	6	6	0	0	28	5	+23	199	63	+136	2	0	26
Montpellier	6	4	0	2	18	10	+8	158	92	+66	2	1	19
Worcester Warriors	6	2	0	4	18	8	+10	140	83	+57	2	3	13
Olympus Madrid	6	0	0	6	4	45	−41	44	303	−269	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
Toulon	6	5	0	1	27	7	+20	218	88	+130	3	0	23
Saracens	6	5	0	1	17	6	+11	184	83	+101	2	0	22
Castres Olympique	6	2	0	4	24	12	+12	173	127	+46	2	1	11
Rovigo	6	0	0	6	3	46	−43	41	318	−277	0	0	0

Pool 4

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	TB	LB	Pts
London Wasps	6	5	0	1	21	3	+18	176	69	+107	2	1	23
Bayonne	6	4	0	2	23	4	−19	184	73	+111	2	1	19
Racing Métro	6	3	0	3	22	7	+15	177	85	+92	2	2	16
Rugby Roma Olimpic	6	0	0	6	1	53	−52	28	338	−310	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
Newcastle Falcons	6	5	0	1	16	6	+10	146	77	+69	2	1	23
Montauban	6	5	0	1	13	9	+4	132	96	+36	1	0	21
Albi	6	2	0	4	13	14	−1	117	137	−20	2	2	12
Petrarca Padova	6	0	0	6	9	22	−13	95	180	−85	0	1	1

Seeding

• Bare numbers indicate Challenge quarterfinal seeding.
• Numbers with "HC" indicate Heineken Cup 3rd-5th Runners-Up.

Seeds	Top 4 Pool Winners	Pts	TF	+/−
1	Connacht	26	28	+136
2	Toulon	23	27	+130
3	London Wasps	23	21	+108
4	Newcastle Falcons	23	16	+69
Non-Seeds	(Worst Pool Winner and HC Runners-up)	Pts	TF	+/−
5HC	Cardiff Blues	18	14	+45
6HC	Gloucester	17	12	-10
7HC	Scarlets	17	12	-31
8	Bourgoin	23	15	+55

Knock-out stage

Quarter-finals

10 April 2010 13:00

Connacht	23–20	Bourgoin
Try: Swift 17' c Muldoon 36' c Con: Keatley (2/2) Pen: Nikora (2/2) 66', 73' Drop: Nikora (1/1) 79'	Report[7]	Try: Kopelani 30' c Senio 59' c Con: Boyet (2/2) Pen: Boyet (2/5) 39', 44'

Galway Sportsgrounds, Galway Attendance: 3,500 Referee: Andrew Small (England)

10 April 2010 21:00

Toulon	38–12	Scarlets
Try: Marienval (2) 29' c, 41' c Sinzelle 72' m Williams 76' m Missoup 80'+1' m Con: Wilkinson (2/3) Pen: Wilkinson (3/3) 9', 36', 40'	Report[8]	Pen: S. Jones (4/6) 11', 23', 44', 47'

Stade Mayol, Toulon Attendance: 12,600 Referee: Peter Fitzgibbon (Ireland)

11 April 2010 14:00

London Wasps	42–26	Gloucester
Try: Jacobs 6' c Betsen 22' c Varndell (3) 33' c, 72' m, 80' c Con: Cipriani (4/5) Pen: Cipriani (3/3) 18', 40', 43'	Report[9]	Try: Eustace 25' c Sharples 77' c Con: Robinson (2/2) Pen: Robinson (4/4) 5', 10', 38', 56'

Adams Park, High Wycombe Attendance: 6,289 Referee: Christophe Berdos (France)

11 April 2010 15:00

Newcastle Falcons	20–55	Cardiff Blues
Try: Amesbury 15' c Young 66' c Con: Gopperth (2/2) Pen: Gopperth (2/3) 11', 18'	Report[10]	Try: Laulala 9' c M. Williams 13' c Filise (2) 42' c, 57' c Blair 52' Roberts 55' c Sweeney 74' c Con: Blair (7/7) Pen: Blair (2/2) 32', 46'

Kingston Park, Newcastle Attendance: 4,346 Referee: Jérôme Garces (France)

Semi-finals

30 April 2010 19:45

Connacht	12–19	Toulon
Pen: Keatley (4/4) 2', 21', 37', 44' Nikora (0/1) Drop: Keatley (0/1)	Report[11]	Try: Kefu 40'+10' c Con: Wilkinson (1/1) Pen: Wilkinson (3/3) 10', 19', 35' Drop: Wilkinson (1/3) 26'

Galway Sportsgrounds, Galway Attendance: 7,000 Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)

1 May 2010 18:00

London Wasps	15–18	Cardiff Blues
Pen: Walder (5/6) 20', 32', 35', 41', 62'	Report[12]	Try: Halfpenny 27' m Jenkins 59' c Con: Blair (1/2) Pen: Blair (2/5) 38', 52'

Adams Park, High Wycombe Attendance: 8,413 Referee: Romain Poite (France)

Final

On 28 April 2010, the competition organiser, European Rugby Cup, announced that the final would be held on 23 May. The time was set at 13:00 UTC (14:00 BST, 15:00 CEST), but the location would depend on the result of the Connacht–Toulon semi-final. Since Toulon won, the final was held at Stade Vélodrome in Marseille.^[13]

Cardiff Blues were designated as the home team for the final. However, it was an effective home game for Toulon; Stade Vélodrome hosted two of that club's matches in their domestic season. Cardiff Blues won the final against Toulon by 28–21.^[14]

23 May 2010 15:00

Cardiff Blues	28–21	Toulon
Try: Roberts 50' c Halfpenny 65' m Davies 69' c Con: Blair (2/3) Pen: Halfpenny (1/2) 6' Blair (2/2) 22', 60'	Report[15]	Try: Williams 37' c Sourice 77' m Con: Wilkinson (1/1) Pen: Wilkinson (2/3) 12', 32' May (1/1) 55'

Stade Vélodrome, Marseille Attendance: 48,990 Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)

See also

• 2009–10 Heineken Cup

Notes and references

External links

• 2009–10 European Challenge Cup Official Site