As the Heineken Cup celebrates its 10th anniversary this season, ERC, the tournament organisers, introduced the ERC Elite Awards scheme to recognise and reward the glittering list of elite players and teams who have made outstanding contributions to the northern hemisphere's leading club rugby tournament. ERC Elite Awards have so far been presented to seven teams from four nations and to 10 players from three countries.
ERC Elite Awards
TEAM
50 TOURNAMENT MATCHES
68 - Toulouse
66 - Munster
60 - Llanelli Scarlets
57 - Leicester Tigers
57 - Leinster
56 - Ulster
55 - Cardiff Blues
INDIVIDUAL
50 TOURNAMENT CAPS
65 - Anthony Foley (Munster)
57 - Chris Wyatt (Llanelli Scarlets)
55 - Victor Costello (Leinster), Fabien Pelous (Dax 5, Toulouse 50)
54 - Robin McBryde (Llanelli Scarlets)
53 - Christian Labit (Toulouse), Shane Byrne (Leinster)
52 - John Hayes (Munster), Graham Rowntree (Leicester Tigers)
51 - John Kelly (Munster)
50 - Ronan O'Gara (Munster), Peter Stringer (Munster)
500 TOURNAMENT POINTS
649 - Ronan O'Gara (Munster)
645 - Diego Dominguez (Milan 64, Stade Français Paris 581)
550 - Stephen Jones (Llanelli Scarlets)
502 - Neil Jenkins (Pontypridd 264, Cardiff 212, Celtic Warriors 26)
25 TOURNAMENT TRIES (No award winner)
24 - Michel Marfaing (Toulouse)
22 - Dafydd James (Pontypridd 9, Llanelli 8, Bridgend 2, Celtic Warriors 1, NEC Harlequins 2)
21 - Emile Ntamack (Toulouse)
20 - Anthony Foley (Munster)