Heineken Cup hits new landmark

All three games - the Pool 1 clash between Biarritz Olympique and Leicester Tigers, the Pool 3 battle between NEC Harlequins and Castres Olympique and the Pool 6 showdown between Gloucester and Ulster - are due to kick-off at 3.00pm BST and the first game to start will be recorded as the 600th fixture in world rugby's greatest club competition.

100^th game Bourgoin 18 NEC Harlequins 30 (27.09.97)

200^th game Pontypridd 22 Colomiers 14 (26.11.99)

300^th game Stade Francais Paris 40 London Wasps 10 (21.10.00)

400^th game Leicester Tigers 54 Perpignan 15` (03.11.01)

500^th game Leicester Tigers 7 Munster 20 (13.04.03)

Round 2 of the 2004/2005 Heineken Cup campaign will also see Rugby Calvisano host the 100th Heineken Cup game in Italy. Fittingly, they will entertain the reigning champions London Wasps.

Double winners Toulouse will have another landmark in their sights when they host Glasgow Rugby tonight (Friday). They need just 36 points to become the first side to notch 2,000 points in the Heineken Cup.

Having seen the 1,000,000th fan go through the turnstiles in England to watch Pool and quarter-final games at Bath last weekend, the Heineken Cup is now getting ready to celebrate its 5,000,000th customer. The record Round 1 turn-out of 111,624 last weekend means the competition is only 255,326 short of that landmark - a barrier that should be smashed in the Pool stages.

COMING UP …

50 up for Shane

Shane Byrne, the Ireland hooker, will make his 50^th Heineken Cup appearance when Leinster meet Bath Rugby in Round 2 of the tournament at Lansdowne Road tomorrow. Only six players have so far received the ERC Elite Award for winning 50 Heineken Cup caps.

50 HEINEKEN CUP CAPS

61 Anthony Foley (Munster

53 Robin McBryde, Chris Wyatt (Llanelli Scarlets)

51 Victor Costello (Leinster), Fabien Pelous (Dax and Toulouse)

50 John Kelly (Munster)

and on 49

Christian Labit (Toulouse) - who is a replacement for Toulouse against Glasgow Rugby on Friday, 29 October, and Shane Byrne (Leinster).