10 million fans and counting

Going into the Round 4 matches, 9,868,560 supporters have already gone through the turnstiles during the 18 seasons of pool matches, and with the biggest Pool game of the season, a high for Ireland, set to attract more than 46,000 supporters to the Aviva Stadium on Saturday for Leinster epic clash with ASM Clermont Auvergne, together with strong attendances across the other 11 venues, the 10 million barrier is firmly in sight.

If clubs are focused at the moment on boosting their points tallies, the games in Rounds 3 and 4 invariably have a profound effect on qualification for the knockout stages, and a a pot of over €6.3m in meritocracy payments will be shared by the countries of the clubs which make it through to the last eight and beyond.
In addition to the bumper gate receipts which are shared by the competing clubs at the quarter-final stage, each spot in the last will earn that club's country in the region of €450,000 with similar payments available for both semi-final and final qualification.

Once the dust has settled on the back-to-back confrontations, the dates and kick-off times for the matches in Rounds 5 and 6 will be announced in the middle of next week.
As the race to the top intensifies, and numbers are crunched again and again, it's worth considering that since the 2003/04 season when bonus points were introduced, no club has qualified for the Heineken Cup quarter-finals as a pool winner on less than 17 points, and no club has qualified as one of the two best runners-up on less than 19 points. Also, no club has qualified for the knockout stages with less than four wins.

Seventeen of the clubs competing in the 2012/13 tournament (excluding the 1997/98 quarter-final play-offs) have qualified for the knockout stages in previous seasons. Here are their totals of appearances in the quarter-finals:

14 - Toulouse
13 - Munster Rugby
10 - Leicester Tigers, Leinster Rugby
8 - Biarritz Olympique
8 - Cardiff Blues
7 - Scarlets
6 - Northampton Saints
4 - ASM Clermont Auvergne
3 - Harlequins, Ospreys, Ulster Rugby
2 - Edinburgh Rugby, Saracens
1 - Castres Olympique, Sale Sharks, Toulon

Heineken Cup Total Attendance: 13,373,348
Heineken Cup Total Pool Attendance: 9,868,560
Highest Attendance for a match: 82,208
Top Heineken Cup Pool Match Attendances

76,569 - STADE FRANÇAIS PARIS v Harlequins - Rd 3 2008/09 (Stade de France)
46,365 - LEINSTER v Bath - Rd 4 2011/12 (Aviva Stadium)
45,892 - SARACENS v Leinster - Rd 2 2010/11 (Wembley)
44,873 - LEINSTER v ASM Clermont Auvergne - Rd 4 2010/11 (Aviva Stadium)
44,112 - STADE FRANÇAIS PARIS v Sale Sharks - Rd 3 2006/07 (Parc des Princes)
41,063 - SARACENS v Ospreys - Rd 3 2011/12 (Wembley Stadium)