The 1998-1999 Heineken Cup was the fourth edition of the Heineken Cup

Heineken Cup

The Heineken Cup is one of two annual rugby union competitions organised by European Rugby Cup involving leading club, regional and provincial teams from the six International Rugby Board countries in Europe whose national teams compete in the Six Nations Championship: England, France, Ireland,...

. Competing teams from France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

, Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, Wales

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

, and Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

, were divided into four pools of four, in which teams played home and away matches against each other. Cardiff and Swansea did not compete due to a dispute with their union, the Welsh Rugby Union

Welsh Rugby Union

The Welsh Rugby Union is the governing body of rugby union in Wales, recognised by the International Rugby Board.The union's patron is Queen Elizabeth II, and her grandson Prince William of Wales became the Vice Royal Patron of the Welsh Rugby Union as of February 2007.-History:The roots of the...

, whereas teams from England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 did not compete due to a dispute between European Rugby and the Rugby Football Union

Rugby Football Union

The Rugby Football Union was founded in 1871 as the governing body for the sport of rugby union, and performed as the international governing body prior to the formation of the International Rugby Board in 1886...

. The pool winners and runners-up qualified for the knock-out stages.

Teams

France	Wales	Scotland	Ireland	Italy
Stade Français Bègles-Bordeaux Perpignan Toulouse Colomiers	Llanelli Neath Ebbw Vale Pontypridd	Edinburgh Glasgow	Leinster Munster Ulster	Petrarca Treviso

Pool stage

In the pool matches teams received 2 points for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 points for a defeat.

Pool 1

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	Pts
Stade Français	6	5	0	1	27	10	17	219	117	102	10
Llanelli Llanelli RFC Llanelli Rugby Football Club is a Welsh rugby union club founded in 1875 and its senior team is one of the leading club sides in Wales. The club began the 2008-09 season at their historic home ground of Stradey Park in Llanelli, but moved in November 2008 to the new Parc y Scarlets in adjacent...	6	3	0	3	12	22	−10	113	180	−67	6
Leinster Leinster Rugby Leinster Rugby, usually referred to simply as Leinster, is an Irish professional rugby union team based in Dublin, representing the Irish province of Leinster, that competes in the RaboDirect Pro 12 and also competes in the Heineken Cup...	6	2	0	4	17	12	5	141	124	17	4
Bègles-Bordeaux	6	2	0	4	11	23	−12	127	179	−52	4

Pool 2

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	Pts
Perpignan USA Perpignan Union Sportive des Arlequins Perpignanais or Unió eSportiva Arlequins de Perpinyà , generally abbreviated as USAP in both languages, is a French rugby union club that plays in the city of Perpignan in Pyrénées-Orientales. The club currently competes in the Top 14, the top level of the French...	6	5	0	1	35	13	22	238	108	130	10
Munster Munster Rugby Munster Rugby is an Irish professional rugby union team based in Munster, that competes in the RaboDirect Pro12 and Heineken Cup.The team represents the Irish Rugby Football Union Munster Branch which is one of four primary branches of the IRFU, and is responsible for rugby union in the Irish...	6	4	1	1	17	13	4	144	108	36	9
Neath Neath RFC Neath Rugby Football Club is a Welsh rugby union club which plays in the Welsh Premier Division. The club's home ground is The Gnoll, Neath. The first team is known as the Welsh All Blacks because of the team colours: black with only a white cross pattée as an emblem...	6	1	1	4	14	27	−13	118	194	−76	3
Safilo Petraca Rugby Padova Petrarca Padova Petrarca Padova Rugby is an Italian rugby union club currently competing in Super 10. They are based in Padua in Veneto. They were founded in 1947 by Pine Bonaiti, Lalo Santini and Gastone Munaron near the University College Antonianum...	6	1	0	5	8	21	−13	79	169	−90	2

Pool 3

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	Pts
Ulster Ulster Rugby Ulster Rugby, usually referred to simply as Ulster, is an Irish professional rugby union team based in Belfast, representing the Irish province of Ulster, that competes in the RaboDirect Pro12 and also competes in the Heineken Cup...	6	4	1	1	23	20	3	197	168	29	9
Toulouse Stade Toulousain Stade Toulousain, also referred to as Toulouse, is a French rugby union club from Toulouse in Midi-Pyrénées. Toulouse is one of the finest rugby clubs in Europe, having won the Heineken Cup four times – in 1996, 2003, 2005 and 2010. They were also runners-up in 2004 and 2008 against London Wasps...	6	4	0	2	31	11	20	234	103	131	8
Edinburgh Reivers	6	2	1	3	21	14	7	179	146	33	5
Ebbw Vale Ebbw Vale RFC Ebbw Vale Rugby Football Club is a Welsh Rugby Union Club based in the town of Ebbw Vale, Blaenau Gwent, South Wales. The club currently play in the WRU Division One East and the SWALEC Cup. It also acts as a feeder club for the Newport Gwent Dragons....	6	1	0	5	11	41	−30	114	307	−193	2

Pool 4

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	Pts
Colomiers US Colomiers US Colomiers is a French rugby union club currently competing in Fédérale 1, the third level of the French rugby pyramid. They had been relegated from Pro D2 after finishing last in the 2006-07 season, but earned promotion from Fédérale 1 at the first opportunity in 2007-08, and survived a...	6	4	0	2	22	10	12	176	121	55	8
Pontypridd Pontypridd RFC Pontypridd Rugby Football Club, known as Ponty, are a rugby union team from Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, currently playing in the British and Irish Cup, Principality Premiership, and are the current SWALEC Cup champions....	6	3	0	3	13	16	−3	160	141	19	6
Benetton Treviso Benetton Rugby Treviso Benetton Rugby Treviso are an Italian professional rugby union club currently competing in the RaboDirect Pro12 and the Heineken Cup.They are based in Treviso in Veneto, and owned by the Benetton clothing company....	6	3	0	3	13	13	0	142	150	−8	6
Glasgow Caledonians	6	2	0	4	10	19	−9	121	187	−66	4

Seeding

130

102

29

55

36

131

19

Seed	Pool Winners	Pts	TF	+/−
1	Perpignan USA Perpignan Union Sportive des Arlequins Perpignanais or Unió eSportiva Arlequins de Perpinyà , generally abbreviated as USAP in both languages, is a French rugby union club that plays in the city of Perpignan in Pyrénées-Orientales. The club currently competes in the Top 14, the top level of the French...	10	35
2	Stade Français	10	27
3	Ulster Ulster Rugby Ulster Rugby, usually referred to simply as Ulster, is an Irish professional rugby union team based in Belfast, representing the Irish province of Ulster, that competes in the RaboDirect Pro12 and also competes in the Heineken Cup...	9	23
4	Colomiers US Colomiers US Colomiers is a French rugby union club currently competing in Fédérale 1, the third level of the French rugby pyramid. They had been relegated from Pro D2 after finishing last in the 2006-07 season, but earned promotion from Fédérale 1 at the first opportunity in 2007-08, and survived a...	8	22
Seed	Pool Runners-up	Pts	TF	+/−
5	Munster Munster Rugby Munster Rugby is an Irish professional rugby union team based in Munster, that competes in the RaboDirect Pro12 and Heineken Cup.The team represents the Irish Rugby Football Union Munster Branch which is one of four primary branches of the IRFU, and is responsible for rugby union in the Irish...	9	17
6	Toulouse Stade Toulousain Stade Toulousain, also referred to as Toulouse, is a French rugby union club from Toulouse in Midi-Pyrénées. Toulouse is one of the finest rugby clubs in Europe, having won the Heineken Cup four times – in 1996, 2003, 2005 and 2010. They were also runners-up in 2004 and 2008 against London Wasps...	8	31
7	Pontypridd Pontypridd RFC Pontypridd Rugby Football Club, known as Ponty, are a rugby union team from Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, currently playing in the British and Irish Cup, Principality Premiership, and are the current SWALEC Cup champions....	6	13
8	Llanelli Llanelli RFC Llanelli Rugby Football Club is a Welsh rugby union club founded in 1875 and its senior team is one of the leading club sides in Wales. The club began the 2008-09 season at their historic home ground of Stradey Park in Llanelli, but moved in November 2008 to the new Parc y Scarlets in adjacent...	6	12	−67

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final