2012–13 Heineken Cup
| 2012–13 Heineken Cup | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Tournament details | |||
| Countries |
 England France Ireland Italy Scotland Wales
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| Tournament format(s) | Round-robin and Knockout | ||
| Date | 12 October 2012 – 18 May 2013 | ||
| Tournament statistics | |||
| Teams | 24 | ||
| Matches played | 79 | ||
| Attendance | 1,063,218 (13,458 per match) | ||
| Tries scored | 293 (3.71 per match) | ||
| Top point scorer(s) |
Morgan Parra (Clermont) (113 points) |
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| Top try scorer(s) |
Napolioni Nalaga (Clermont) (8 tries) |
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| Final | |||
| Venue | Aviva Stadium, Dublin | ||
| Attendance | 50,148 | ||
| Champions |
Toulon (1st title) |
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| Runner-up |
Clermont
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| Official website | http://www.ercrugby.com/eng/ | ||
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The 2012–13 Heineken Cup was the 18th season of the Heineken Cup, the annual rugby union European club competition for clubs from the top six nations in European rugby. The tournament began with two pool matches on 12 October 2012 and ended with the final at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on 18 May 2013.
Leinster, who became one of only two clubs ever to win two consecutive Heineken Cups in 2012, attempted to become the first club ever to win the competition three straight years. However they were eliminated at the pool stages, the first defending champions to do so since London Wasps in 2007–08.Toulon won an all-French final 16–15 against Clermont.
The default allocation of teams is as follows:
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, Biarritz claimed the Challenge Cup winner's berth, and since Heineken Cup winners Leinster were already qualified through Pro12, the extra Irish berth went to Connacht.
Teams are listed in the order they are presented to Heineken Cup organiser European Rugby Cup by their respective leagues. In the cases of England and France, this does not necessarily match the teams' placement in their national leagues in the preceding season.
The seeding system was the same as in the 2011–12 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 French team).
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