1997–98 European Challenge Cup

1997–1998 European Challenge Cup
Tournament details
Countries	England; France; Ireland; Italy; Romania; Scotland; Wales
Tournament format(s)	Round-robin and Knockout
Date	6 September 1997 to 2 February 1998
Tournament statistics
Teams	32
Top point scorer(s)	Laurent Labit (Colomiers); Christophe Reigt (Stade Français); (108 points)
Top try scorer(s)	Marc Biboulet (Colomiers); Emori Bolobolo (Stade Français); David Bory (Montferrand); (8 tries)
Final
Champions	Colomiers (1st title)
Runners-up	SU Agen

The 1997–98 European Challenge Cup was the second year of the European Challenge Cup, the second tier rugby union cup competition below the Heineken Cup. The tournament was held between September 1997 and February 1998

Pool stage

Pool 1

Team	P	W	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	Pts
Agen	6	6	0	27	12	+15	219	105	+114	12
Bristol	6	2	4	16	22	−6	115	180	−65	4
Ebbw Vale	6	2	4	12	17	−5	117	155	−38	4
La Rochelle	6	2	4	11	15	−4	128	139	−11	4

Pool 2

Team	P	W	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	Pts
AS Montferrand	6	5	1	28	11	+17	203	120	+83	10
Newport	6	3	3	20	27	−7	172	192	−20	6
Sale Sharks	6	3	3	18	13	5	163	117	+46	6
Montpellier	6	1	5	12	27	−15	90	199	−109	2

Pool 3

Team	P	W	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	Pts
Stade Français	6	5	1	48	18	+30	337	131	+206	10
London Irish	6	4	2	18	14	4	169	133	+36	8
Dax	6	3	3	14	20	−6	139	180	−41	6
Farul Constanţa	6	0	6	10	38	−28	94	295	−201	0

Pool 4

Team	P	W	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	Pts
Connacht	6	5	1	11	13	−2	144	97	+47	10
Northampton Saints	6	3	3	17	13	+4	161	116	+45	6
Bordeaux-Begles	6	3	3	10	6	+4	112	110	+2	6
Nice	6	1	5	14	20	−6	94	188	−94	2

Pool 5

Team	P	W	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	Pts
Colomiers	6	6	0	40	13	+27	290	121	+169	12
Richmond	6	4	2	28	15	+13	196	133	+63	8
Bridgend RFC	6	2	4	12	37	−25	130	259	−129	4
Grenoble	6	0	6	9	24	−15	112	215	−103	0

Pool 6

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	Pts
Gloucester	6	5	0	1	19	12	+7	170	101	+69	10
Toulon	6	3	1	2	12	7	+5	136	104	+32	7
Béziers	6	2	1	3	18	14	+4	150	147	+3	5
Petrarca Rugby	6	0	2	4	13	29	−16	108	212	−104	2

Pool 7

Team	P	W	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	Pts
Newcastle Falcons	6	5	1	36	8	+28	264	98	+166	10
Biarritz Olympique	6	3	3	10	17	−7	123	153	−30	6
Perpignan	6	2	4	12	13	−1	98	138	−40	4
Edinburgh	6	2	4	9	29	−20	109	205	−96	4

Pool 8

Team	P	W	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	Pts
Castres Olympique	6	5	1	26	10	+16	206	97	+109	10
Saracens	6	5	1	23	13	10	197	128	+69	10
Narbonne	6	2	4	19	14	+5	168	138	+30	4
Neath	6	0	6	10	41	−31	93	301	−208	0

Qualifiers

Seed	Pool Winners	Pts	TF	+/−
1	Colomiers	12	40	+169
2	Agen	12	27	+114
3	Stade Français	10	48	+206
4	Newcastle Falcons	10	36	+166
5	Montferrand	10	28	+83
6	Castres Olympique	10	26	+109
7	Gloucester	10	19	+69
8	Connacht	10	11	+47

Knockout stage

Quarter finals

8 November 1997
14:15

Stade Français	53 – 22	Gloucester

Stade Jean-Bouin

8 November 1997
20:00

SU Agen	40 – 27	Connacht

Stade Armandie

9 November 1997
15:00

Colomiers	23 – 13	AS Montferrand

Stade Selery

9 November 1997
15:00

Newcastle Falcons	44 – 0	Castres Olympique

Kingston Park Stadium

Semi finals

20 December 1997
14:15

SU Agen	12 – 9	Newcastle Falcons

Stade Armandie
Attendance: 6,000

20 December 1997
15:00

Colomiers	19 – 13	Stade Français

Stade Selery
Attendance: 4,500

Final

2 February 1998
15:15

Colomiers	43 – 5	SU Agen

Les Sept Deniers
Attendance: 12,500