The 1996-1997 Heineken Cup (the rugby club championship of Europe) is the second of the series. Competing teams, from France, Ireland, Italy, Wales and for the first time England and Scotland, were divided into four pools of five, in which teams played each other only once, meaning two home and two away games per team. The winners and runners-up of the pools qualified for the knock-out stages.

Pool Stages

In the pool matches teams received

• 2 points for a win
• 1 points for a draw

Pool 1

Team	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points
Dax	4	3	0	1	6 Q
Bath	4	3	0	1	6 Q
Pontypridd	4	3	0	1	6
Benetton Treviso	4	1	0	3	2
Edinburgh	4	1	0	3	2

Pool 2

Team	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points
Leicester	4	4	0	0	8 Q
Llanelli	4	2	0	2	4 Q
Leinster	4	2	0	2	4
Pau	4	1	0	3	2
Scottish Borders	4	1	0	3	2

Pool 3

Team	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points
Brive	4	4	0	0	8 Q
Harlequins	4	3	0	1	6 Q
Neath	4	2	0	2	4
Caledonia	4	1	0	3	2
Ulster	4	0	0	0	0

Pool 4

Team	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points
Dax	4	3	0	1	6 Q
Toulouse	4	3	0	1	6 Q
Wasps	4	2	0	2	4
Munster	4	2	0	2	4
Milan	4	0	0	4	0

Quarter Finals

Home teams listed first.

• Cardiff 22 - 19 Bath
• Leicester 23 - 13 Halequins
• Dax 18 - 26 Toulouse
• Brive 35 - 14 Llanelli

Semi Finals

Designated home teams listed first.

• Leicester 37 - 11 Toulouse
• Brive 26 - 13 Cardiff

Final

Played on 31 January 1998 at Cardiff Arms Park, Cardiff, Wales

• Brive 28 - 9 Leicester