The qualification criteria for this season's Heineken Cup quarter-finals is detailed below.

The six Pool winners and two best placed runners-up will qualify for the Quarter-Finals and will be decided by the following criteria

(i)the Pool winner will be the Club with the highest number of match points earned in each Pool.

The runners up will be the two Clubs from all six Pools with the next highest number of points. The Pool winners will be ranked 1-6 in terms of the number of points earned. The runners-ups will be ranked 7 and 8.

(ii)if Clubs are equal on points and the Clubs are in the same Pool, then qualification/ranking will be based on the two matches played between the Clubs concerned

(a) the Club which has earned the most number of match points from the two matches (two points for a win, one point for a draw)

(b) the Club which has scored the most tries in the two matches

(c) the Club with the best points difference from the two matches

(iii)if still unresolved, or the teams have not played each other previously in the Pool stage, qualification/ranking will be based on

(a) the number of tries scored in all pool matches

(b) points difference from all Pool matches

(c) the Club with the fewest number of players sent off in all Pool matches

(d) toss of a coin

Teams ranked 1-4 will have home advantage. The Quarter-Finals will be

Team 1 v Team 8 Team 2 v Team 7 Team 3 v Team 6 Team 4 v Team 5

The eight teams who qualify for the Heineken Cup quarter-finals can register:

a) two further players in any position

b) plus one other player who is a front row forward as a direct replacement for a front row forward from the original squad

Any of the above must NOT have been nominated in a match squad for another team for either the Heineken Cup or PARKER PEN SHIELD tournaments during the current season.