While that first tournament consisted of just 15 matches, England and Scotland joined the competition in 1996/7 to make it a truly European event.
It had required all the resolve and optimism of the European Rugby Cup Ltd directors to initially keep the tournament afloat but by Year 2 the hard groundwork had been done and the top quality rugby had taken a grip on those players and supporters.

With the tournament now embracing 20 teams - four fiercely contested Pools of five - only Leicester and Brive reached the knock-out stages with 100 per cent records and ultimately made it all the way to the final, Cardiff and Toulouse falling at the final hurdle.

After 46 matches, Brive turned in a sublime performance to destroy Leicester 28-9 in front of an enthralled Cardiff Arms Park crowd of 41,664, the match watched by an estimated television audience of 35 millions in 86 countries.