The 2004–05 Heineken Cup was the tenth edition of the Heineken Cup. Competing teams, from England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales, were divided into six pools of four, in which teams played home and away matches against each other. The winners of the pools, together with the two best runners-up, qualified for the knock-out stage. The French club Toulouse won a nail-biting final over fellow French side Stade Français by 18–12 after extra time. Toulouse became the first club to win the event three times.
Format
In the pool matches teams received:
- four points for a win
- two points for a draw
- a bonus point for scoring four or more tries
- a bonus point for losing by seven or fewer points
The teams that qualified for the knockout stage are indicated in bold type on a green background. Their seeds in the knockout stage are indicated next to the team name.
Teams
{| class="wikitable" width=100%
|-
!France
!England
!Wales
!Ireland
!Scotland
!Italy
|- valign=top
|
- Stade Français
- Toulouse
- Biarritz Olympique
- Castres
- Bourgoin
- Perpignan
|
- Leicester Tigers
- London Wasps
- Bath
- Northampton Saints
- Harlequins
- Newcastle Falcons
- Gloucester
|
- Llanelli Scarlets
- Neath-Swansea Ospreys
- Newport Gwent Dragons
- Cardiff Blues
|
- Leinster
- Munster
- Ulster
|
- Glasgow
- Edinburgh
|
- Calvisano
- Benetton Treviso
|}
Pool stage
Pool 1
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|-
!width="200"|Team
!width="20"|P
!width="20"|W
!width="20"|D
!width="20"|L
!width="20"|Tries for
!width="20"|Tries against
!width="20"|Try diff
!width="20"|Points for
!width="20"|Points against
!width="25"|Points diff
!width="20"|TB
!width="20"|LB
!width="20"|Pts
|- bgcolor=#ccffcc
|align=left| Biarritz Olympique (4)
|6||5||0||1||20||9||11||163||92||71||2||0||22
|- bgcolor=#ccffcc
|align=left| Leicester Tigers (8)
|6||4||0||2||24||9||15||196||118||78||2||1||19
|-
|align=left| London Wasps
|6||3||0||3||21||14||7||174||138||36||2||2||16
|-
|align=left| Ghial Rugby Calvisano
|6||0||0||6||10||43||−33||79||264||−185||0||0||0
|}
Pool 2
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|-
!width="200"|Team
!width="20"|P
!width="20"|W
!width="20"|D
!width="20"|L
!width="20"|Tries for
!width="20"|Tries against
!width="20"|Try diff
!width="20"|Points for
!width="20"|Points against
!width="25"|Points diff
!width="20"|TB
!width="20"|LB
!width="20"|Pts
|- bgcolor=#ccffcc
|align=left| Leinster (1)
|6||6||0||0||33||10||23||257||100||157||2||0||26
|-
|align=left| Bath
|6||3||0||3||15||11||4||149||122||27||1||2||15
|-
|align=left| Benetton Treviso
|6||3||0||3||14||21||−7||136||181||−45||2||0||14
|-
|align=left| Bourgoin
|6||0||0||6||9||29||−20||98||237||−139||0||2||2
|}
Pool 3
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|-
!width="200"|Team
!width="20"|P
!width="20"|W
!width="20"|D
!width="20"|L
!width="20"|Tries for
!width="20"|Tries against
!width="20"|Try diff
!width="20"|Points for
!width="20"|Points against
!width="25"|Points diff
!width="20"|TB
!width="20"|LB
!width="20"|Pts
|- bgcolor=#ccffcc
|align=left| Toulouse (2)
|6||5||0||1||21||9||12||181||104||77||3||1||24
|- bgcolor=#ccffcc
|align=left| Northampton Saints (7)
|6||5||0||1||11||7||4||128||101||27||1||0||21
|-
|align=left| Llanelli Scarlets
|6||2||0||4||15||17||−2||132||157||−25||3||2||13
|-
|align=left| Glasgow
|6||0||0||6||11||25||−14||107||186||−79||0||2||2
|}
Pool 4
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|-
!width="200"|Team
!width="20"|P
!width="20"|W
!width="20"|D
!width="20"|L
!width="20"|Tries for
!width="20"|Tries against
!width="20"|Try diff
!width="20"|Points for
!width="20"|Points against
!width="25"|Points diff
!width="20"|TB
!width="20"|LB
!width="20"|Pts
|- bgcolor=#ccffcc
|align=left| Munster (5)
|6||5||0||1||12||4||8||121||74||47||1||1||22
|-
|align=left| Castres
|6||3||1||2||16||13||3||157||121||36||2||0||16
|-
|align=left| Neath-Swansea Ospreys
|6||3||0||3||11||10||1||135||115||20||1||1||14
|-
|align=left| NEC Harlequins
|6||0||1||5||7||19||−12||81||184||−103||0||1||3
|}
Pool 5
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|-
!width="200"|Team
!width="20"|P
!width="20"|W
!width="20"|D
!width="20"|L
!width="20"|Tries for
!width="20"|Tries against
!width="20"|Try diff
!width="20"|Points for
!width="20"|Points against
!width="25"|Points diff
!width="20"|TB
!width="20"|LB
!width="20"|Pts
|- bgcolor=#ccffcc
|align=left| Newcastle Falcons (6)
|6||5||0||1||10||11||−1||113||104||9||1||0||21
|-
|align=left| Perpignan
|6||3||0||3||15||10||5||133||107||26||2||1||15
|-
|align=left| Newport Gwent Dragons
|6||3||0||3||17||12||5||124||99||25||2||1||15
|-
|align=left| Edinburgh
|6||1||0||5||10||19||−9||92||152||−60||1||2||7
|}
Pool 6
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|-
!width="200"|Team
!width="20"|P
!width="20"|W
!width="20"|D
!width="20"|L
!width="20"|Tries for
!width="20"|Tries against
!width="20"|Try diff
!width="20"|Points for
!width="20"|Points against
!width="25"|Points diff
!width="20"|TB
!width="20"|LB
!width="20"|Pts
|- bgcolor=#ccffcc
|align=left| Stade Français (3)
|6||5||0||1||20||9||11||179||90||89||3||0||23
|-
|align=left| Gloucester
|6||3||0||3||14||12||2||144||128||16||1||1||14
|-
|align=left| Ulster
|6||3||0||3||5||13||−8||88||139||−51||0||1||13
|-
|align=left| Cardiff Blues
|6||1||0||5||8||13||−5||98||152||−54||0||3||7
|}
Seeding and runners-up
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
!Seed
!Pool winners
!Pts
!TF
!+/−
|-
|1
|align=left| Leinster
|26||33||+157
|-
|2
|align=left| Toulouse
|24||21||+77
|-
|3
|align=left| Stade Français
|23||20||+89
|-
|4
|align=left| Biarritz Olympique
|22||20||+71
|-
|5
|align=left| Munster
|22||12||+47
|-
|6
|align=left| Newcastle Falcons
|21||10||+9
|-
!Seed
!Pool runners-up
!Pts
!TF
!+/−
|-
|7
|align=left| Northampton Saints
|21||11||+27
|-
|8
|align=left| Leicester Tigers
|19||24||+78
|-
| —
|align=left| Castres Olympique
|16||16||+36
|-
| —
|align=left| Bath
|15||15||+27
|-
| —
|align=left| Perpignan
|15||15||+26
|-
| —
|align=left| Gloucester
|14||14||+16
|}
Knockout stage
Quarter-finals
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Semi-finals
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Final
Toulouse became the competition's first three-time champions.