Do you know the largest margin of victory at a Heineken Cup semi-final? What about the biggest crowd to watch a final four knockout match? Learn all this and more, by clicking inside this story...
• Cardiff Blues are appearing in their first semi-final as a region - although Cardiff RFC contested the first Heineken Cup final back in January, 1996, and also played in the 1996/97 semi-finals.
• Munster are appearing in their eighth Heineken Cup semi-final while Leicester Tigers are in the last four for the sixth time and Leinster the fourth occasion.
• Both Croke Park and the Millennium Stadium are new Heineken Cup semi-final venues. However, while the Millennium Stadium has staged three Heineken Cup finals, this will be the first tournament match at Croke Park.
• Three Munster players - Ronan O'Gara, John Hayes and Donncha O'Callaghan - have appeared in a record seven semi-finals.
• The 2003 / 2004 semi-finals had the greatest combined attendance of 82,500 when the ties were played at Lansdowne Road (Munster v London Wasps, 48,500) and at Stade Chaban-Delmas in Bordeaux (Toulouse v Biarritz Olympique, 34,000).
• That Munster v London Wasps attendance is the tournament record for a semi-final but both Croke Park (82,000) and the Millennium Stadium (74,500) have greater capacities.
• Former Scottish referee Jim Fleming - now an ERC Board member - controlled a record four Heineken Cup semi-finals. Alan Lewis, Alain Rolland (both Ireland) and Chris White (England) have each refereed three tournament semi-finals.
• The only semi-final requiring extra time was the 1998 all-French clash between Toulouse and Brive. Toulouse lost that one on a 2-1 try count.
• The 26 Heineken Cup semi-finals have been watched by 675,701 fans - an average attendance of 25,989.
• The highest score in a semi-final has been the 37 points scored by Leicester Tigers against Toulouse in 1997 and the 37 points scored by London Wasps against Munster in 2004.
• The biggest winning margin has been 27 points, when Toulouse beat Swansea 30- 3 in 1996.
• Two clubs have scored five tries in a semi-final, Leicester Tigers against Toulouse (1997) and Wasps against Munster (2004).
• Only one of the 26 semi-finals has failed to produce a try - Biarritz Olympique's 18- 9 win over Bath Rugby in San Sebastian in 2006.
