2009–10 Amlin Challenge Cup pool stage
Season	2009–10 Amlin Challenge Cup
Date	8 October 2009 – 23 January 2010
Qualifiers
Seed 1	Connacht
Seed 2	Toulon
Seed 3	London Wasps
Seed 4	Newcastle Falcons
Seed 5	Cardiff Blues
Seed 6	Gloucester Rugby
Seed 7	Scarlets
Seed 8	Bourgoin
← 2008–09 (Previous) 2010–11 → (Next)

The 2009–10 Amlin Challenge Cup pool stage was the opening stage of the 14th season of the European Challenge Cup, the second-tier competition for European rugby union clubs. It began on 8 October 2009 when Worcester Warriors hosted Montpellier and ended on 24 January 2010 with the match between Leeds Carnegie and Bourgoin.

Twenty teams participated in this phase of the competition; they were divided into five pools of four teams each, with each team playing the others home and away. Competition points were earned using the standard bonus point system. The pool winners advanced to the knockout stage, where they were joined by three entrants from the Heineken Cup pool stage. These teams then competed in a single-elimination tournament that ended with the final at the Stade Vélodrome in Marseille on 23 May 2010.

Results

All times are local to the game location.

Key to colours

Winner of each pool advances to quarterfinals. Seed # in parentheses.

Pool 1

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	TB	LB	Pts
Bourgoin (8)	6	5	0	1	16	6	+10	141	86	+55	2	1	23
Leeds Carnegie	6	4	0	2	19	6	+13	160	82	+78	3	0	19
Overmach Parma	6	2	0	4	5	17	−12	78	145	−67	0	0	8
București Oaks	6	1	0	5	5	16	−11	70	136	−66	0	3	7

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Pool 2

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	TB	LB	Pts
Connacht (1)	6	6	0	0	28	5	+23	199	63	+136	2	0	26
Montpellier	6	4	0	2	18	10	+8	158	92	+66	2	1	19
Worcester Warriors	6	2	0	4	18	8	+10	140	83	+57	2	3	13
Olympus Madrid	6	0	0	6	4	45	−41	44	303	−269	0	0	0

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Pool 3

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	TB	LB	Pts
Toulon (2)	6	5	0	1	27	7	+20	218	88	+130	3	0	23
Saracens	6	5	0	1	17	6	+11	184	83	+101	2	0	22
Castres Olympique	6	2	0	4	24	12	+12	173	127	+46	2	1	11
Rovigo	6	0	0	6	3	46	−43	41	318	−277	0	0	0

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Pool 4

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	TB	LB	Pts
London Wasps (3)	6	5	0	1	21	3	+18	176	69	+107	2	1	23
Bayonne	6	4	0	2	23	4	−19	184	73	+111	2	1	19
Racing Métro	6	3	0	3	22	7	+15	177	85	+92	2	2	16
Rugby Roma Olimpic	6	0	0	6	1	53	−52	28	338	−310	0	0	0

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Pool 5

Team	P	W	D	L	Tries for	Tries against	Try diff	Points for	Points against	Points diff	TB	LB	Pts
Newcastle Falcons (4)	6	5	0	1	16	6	+10	146	77	+69	2	1	23
Montauban	6	5	0	1	13	9	+4	132	96	+36	1	0	21
Albi	6	2	0	4	13	14	−1	117	137	−20	2	2	12
Petrarca Padova	6	0	0	6	9	22	−13	95	180	−85	0	1	1

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Seeding

• Bare numbers indicate Challenge quarterfinal seeding.
• Numbers with "HC" indicate Heineken Cup 3rd-5th Runners-Up.

Seeds	Top 4 Pool Winners	Pts	TF	+/−
1	Connacht	26	28	+136
2	Toulon	23	27	+130
3	London Wasps	23	21	+108
4	Newcastle Falcons	23	16	+69
Non-Seeds	(Worst Pool Winner and HC Runners-up)	Pts	TF	+/−
5HC	Cardiff Blues	18	14	+45
6HC	Gloucester	17	12	-10
7HC	Scarlets	17	12	-31
8	Bourgoin	23	15	+55

See also

• European Challenge Cup
• 2009–10 Heineken Cup

References