The Heineken Cup is back - and with a bang! A record 152,991 fans poured through the turnstiles across Europe in Round 1 as two grounds established attendance records for Pool matches.
The upsurge in attendances came on top of millions of armchair viewers enjoying 10 live games across the tournament's broadcast platform.
The biggest crowd of the weekend was in Toulouse, where last season's finalists pipped Bath 18-16 in a thrilling Pool 5 clash. There were 31,885 fans crammed into the Le Stadium in Toulouse - almost 10,000 more than saw the two teams play at the same venue back in 2000.
Munster's refurbished Thomond Park established a record European Pool gate for the Irish Province with 23,500 as they launched their defence of the title with a narrow win over Montauban in Pool 1, while in the other Pool 1 match ASM Clermont Auvergne's 15,681 gate against Sale Sharks was a club record for the tournament.
The previous record for the opening round of the Heineken Cup was last season's 128,587, while the previous best attendance for any Pool round was the 136,965 who watched Round 2 in the 2006/07 campaign It was the 24th time in the tournament's history that a round of Pool matches had attracted more than 100,000 fans and was the 13th in a row.
Heineken Cup Attendance Records Round by Round
Round 1: 152,991 - 2008/09
Round 2: 136,965 - 2006/07
Round 3: 134,634 - 2006/07
Round 4: 126,084 - 2007/08
Round 5: 128,020 - 2005/06
Round 6: 115,886 - 2007/08
FIVE WINS ON THE ROAD
For the third time in 10 seasons since the tournament went to six Pools of four teams there were five away wins in the opening round.
The first time that happened was in 2001/02, when there was also a draw, while the last time was in 2006/07.
In the sixth season of bonus points at the Pool stages, there were four losing bonus points picked up as a third of the games finished within seven or less points dividing the two teams.
The tight nature of the games was also reflected in the overall try count, which was down on last season's Round 1 tally of 58 and the 51 in 2006/07. There were only 46 tries scored in the opening 12 games of this season's campaign.
ROUND 1 TRY TALLY
2008/09 - 46
2007/08 - 58
2006/07 - 51
2005/06 - 53
2004/05 - 33
2003/04 - 46
