Heineken Cup quarter-finals - Did you know?

• The 44 Heineken Cup quarter-finals have been watched by 859,508 fans.

• The average attendance for each of quarter-final has been 19,534.

• The 2004 / 2005 quarter-finals had the greatest combined attendance of 162,000 - an average of over 40,000 per quarter-final - when the ties were played at Lansdowne Road (Leinster v Leicester Tigers), Estadio Anoeta (Biarritz Olympique v Munster), Parc des Princes (Stade Français Paris v Newcastle Falcons) and Le Stadium in Toulouse (Toulouse v Northampton Saints).

• The two quarter-finals played at Lansdowne Road attracted capacity crowds and a joint tournament quarter-final attendance record of 48,500. The 2005 match was between Leinster and Leicester and the 2006 clash between Munster and Perpignan.

• Munster are appearing in a record 10th quarter-final - one more than treble champions Toulouse who are appearing in their ninth.

• Munster pair Peter Stringer and John Hayes have appeared in a record nine quarter-finals - one more than team-mates David Wallace and Anthony Foley.

• There were no quarter-finals in the first season of the tournament, the four Pool winners going straight into the semi-finals.

• None of the 44 quarter-finals has required extra time to establish a winner - although two of the 11 finals (1996 and 2005 and both won by Toulouse) have needed the extra 20 minutes along with the 1998 semi-final between Toulouse and Brive. Toulouse lost that one on a try count.

• The 2008 quarter-finalists have a total of 26 previous quarter-final appearances between them. The tally consists of Munster (9), Toulouse (8), Cardiff Blues (4), Perpignan (3) and Gloucester Rugby (2).

• Alan Lewis (Ireland) has refereed six quarter-finals - one more than Frenchman Joel Jutge and two more than Welshman Nigel Whitehouse and Chris White (England).

• The highest score in a quarter-final was the 71 points scored by Stade Francais Paris when they beat Pontypridd 71-14 at Stade Jean-Bouin in the 1998 / 1999 season. The 57 points difference is also the biggest winning margin.

JUST 11 AWAY DAY SPECIALS

The 44 Heineken Cup quarter-finals have ended with the home team winning 33 times and the away team going through to the semi-finals on 11 occasions - an average of just one away win per season.
It means 75% of the quarter-finals have gone with home advantage with treble champions Toulouse accounting for five of those home wins and Munster and Leicester Tigers another four apiece.
And Munster are the only team to have won two away quarter-finals, at Stade Jean-Bouin against Stade Francais Paris in 2002 and at Welford Road against Leicester Tigers the following season.

HOME
5 - Toulouse
4 - Munster
Leicester Tigers
3 - Stade Francais Paris
2 - Biarritz Olympique
Llanelli Scarlets
London Wasps
1 - Cardiff Blues
Brive
Bath Rugby
Pau
Ulster Rugby
Perpignan
Colomiers
Northampton Saints
Gloucester Rugby
Castres Olympique
Leinster

AWAY
Toulouse (26-18 v Dax, 1997)
Brive (25-18 v London Wasps, 1998)
Llanelli Scarlets (27-10 v Bath Rugby, 2002)
Munster (16-14 v Stade Francais Paris, 2002)
Munster (20-7 v Leicester Tigers, 2003)
Perpignan (26-19 v Llanelli Scarlets, 2003)
Biarritz Olympique (27-10 v Llanelli Scarlets, 2004)
Leicester Tigers (29-13 v Leinster, 2005)
Bath Rugby (15-12 v Leicester Tigers, 2006)
Leinster (41-35 v Toulouse, 2006)
Northampton Saints (7-6 v Biarritz Olympique, 2007)