2003–04 European Challenge Cup

The 2003–04 European Challenge Cup (known as the Parker Pen Challenge Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 8th season of the European Challenge Cup, Europe's second-tier club rugby union competition below the Heineken Cup. A total of 28 teams participated, representing seven countries. This was the first year of the competition following the introduction of regional rugby union teams in Wales. With the reduction of Welsh teams from nine to five, and with all teams participating in the 2003-04 Heineken Cup, there were no Welsh teams in the 2003–04 Parker Pen Challenge Cup.

2003-04 Parker Pen Challenge Cup
Tournament details
Countries	England France Ireland Italy Romania Scotland Spain
Tournament format(s)	Knockout
Date	5 December 2003 – 22 May 2004
Tournament statistics
Teams	28
Matches played	57
Attendance	225,213 (3,951 per match)
Tries scored	323 (5.67 per match)
Top point scorer(s)	Olly Barkley (Bath) (120 points)[1]
Top try scorer(s)	Simon Danielli (Bath) (6 tries)[2]
Final
Venue	Madejski Stadium, Reading, Berkshire
Attendance	13,123
Champions	NEC Harlequins (2nd title)
Runners-up	Montferrand
← 2002–03 (Previous) (Next) 2004–05 →

The competition began when Rotherham hosted Narbonne and Leonessa hosted Montferrand on 5 December 2003 and culminated in the final at the Madejski Stadium in Reading on 22 May 2004.

As in the previous season, the competition was organised in a knockout format. Teams played each other on a home and away basis, with the aggregate points winner proceeding to the next round. The final was a single leg. For the second time, a third tier tournament was held - the European Shield. This was contested between the first round losers from the European Challenge Cup.^[3] As there were only 28 teams involved, the 2 "best" 1st Round losers were reprieved and proceeded to the 2nd Round.

The defending champions, England's London Wasps, did not have a chance to defend their crown because they qualified to play in the Heineken Cup. NEC Harlequins claimed the narrowest of victories over Montferrand in the final and picked up their second piece of European Club silverware.

Teams

The allocation of teams was as follows:

England: 6 teams — all teams from the Zurich Premiership that did not qualify for the 2003–04 Heineken Cup

France: 10 teams — all teams from the Top 16 that did not qualify for the Heineken Cup

Ireland: 1 team — the Irish team from the Celtic League that did not play in the Heineken Cup

Italy: 8 teams — all the teams from the Super 10 that did not qualify for the Heineken Cup

Scotland: 1 team — the Scottish team from the Celtic League that did not play in the Heineken Cup

Spain: 2 teams — drawn from the División de Honor de Rugby

England	France	Ireland	Italy	Scotland	Spain
Bath NEC Harlequins London Irish Newcastle Falcons Rotherham Saracens	Béziers Brive Castres Olympique Colomiers Grenoble Montauban Montferrand Montpellier Narbonne Pau	Connacht	Gran Parma L'Aquila Leonessa Overmach Parma Petrarca Padova Rugby Roma Rovigo Viadana	Glasgow	El Salvador Valladolid RAC

Matches

All kickoff times are local to the match location.^[4]

Round 1

1st leg

5 December 2003 19:45

Rotherham	10 – 17	Narbonne
	Report

Millmoor Attendance: 1,327

5 December 2003 20:00

Leonessa	0 – 55	Montferrand
	Report

Campo Comunale di Rugby Attendance: 500

6 December 2003 12:30

Valladolid RAC	10 – 71	Newcastle Falcons
	Report

Estadio Pepe Rojo Attendance: 3,000

6 December 2003 14:30

Rugby Roma	13 – 45	Saracens
	Report

Stadio Tre Fontane Attendance: 512

6 December 2003 15:00

Gran Parma	10 – 35	Grenoble
	Report

Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi Attendance: 800

6 December 2003 15:00

L'Aquila	11 – 75	Bath
	Report

Stade Tommaso Fattori Attendance: 2,000

6 December 2003 15:00

Rovigo	14 – 53	Castres Olympique
	Report

Stadio Comunale Mario Battaglini Attendance: 300

6 December 2003 18:00

Colomiers	37 – 12	Petrarca Padova
	Report

Stade Selery Attendance: 2,500

6 December 2003 18:00

Montpellier	11 – 30	Glasgow
	Report

Stade Sabathé Attendance: 500

6 December 2003 19:30

Brive	39 – 3	Viadana
	Report

Stade Amédée-Domenech Attendance: 3,000

7 December 2003 12:30

El Salvador	18 – 31	NEC Harlequins
	Report

Estadio Pepe Rojo Attendance: 2,800

7 December 2003 13:30

Montauban	30 – 26	London Irish
	Report

North Power Stadium[5] Attendance: 1,600

7 December 2003 14:30

Overmach Parma	28 – 33	Pau
	Report

Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi Attendance: 350

7 December 2003 15:00

Béziers	10 – 18	Connacht
	Report

Stade de la Méditerranée Attendance: 4,543

2nd leg

12 December 2003 19:30

Glasgow	38 – 13	Montpellier
	Report

Hughenden Stadium Attendance: 1,622

12 December 2003 19:45

Narbonne	35 – 13	Rotherham
	Report

Parc des Sports et de l'Amitié Attendance: 1,500

13 December 2003 14:00

Connacht	11 – 13	Béziers
	Report

Galway Sportsgrounds Attendance: 2,500

13 December 2003 14:15

Bath	50 – 0	L'Aquila
	Report

The Recreation Ground Attendance: 8,707

13 December 2003 15:00

NEC Harlequins	63 – 3	El Salvador
	Report

The Stoop Attendance: 6,341

13 December 2003 15:00

Petrarca Padova	20 – 38	Colomiers
	Report

Stadio Plebiscito Attendance: 1,200

13 December 2003 17:00

Montferrand	58 – 3	Leonessa
	Report

Stade Marcel-Michelin Attendance: 7,941

13 December 2003 18:00

Castres Olympique	75 – 10	Rovigo
	Report

Stade Pierre-Antoine Attendance: 2,500

13 December 2003 19:00

Pau	25 – 6	Overmach Parma
	Report

Stade du Hameau Attendance: 3,500

13 December 2003 19:30

Grenoble	41 – 6	Gran Parma
	Report

Stade Lesdiguières Attendance: 4,087

14 December 2003 13:00

Newcastle Falcons	66 – 27	Valladolid RAC
	Report

Kingston Park Attendance: 6,012

14 December 2003 14:30

Viadana	38 – 22	Brive
	Report

Stradey Park[6] Attendance: 1,000

14 December 2003 15:00

London Irish	36 – 24	Montauban
	Report

Madejski Stadium Attendance: 5,265

14 December 2003 15:00

Saracens	82 – 5	Rugby Roma
	Report

Vicarage Road Attendance: 4,181

Aggregate Results

Key to colours

	14 winners and 2 best losers advance to 2nd Round.
	12 other teams to Shield.

Winners	Match points	Aggregate score	Points margin	Losers
Bath	4 – 0	125 – 11	114	L'Aquila
Montferrand	4 – 0	113 – 3	110	Leonessa
Saracens	4 – 0	127 – 18	109	Rugby Roma
Castres Olympique	4 – 0	128 – 24	104	Rovigo
Newcastle Falcons	4 – 0	137 – 37	100	Valladolid RAC
NEC Harlequins	4 – 0	94 – 21	73	El Salvador
Grenoble	4 – 0	76 – 16	60	Gran Parma
Glasgow	4 – 0	68 – 24	44	Montpellier
Colomiers	4 – 0	75 – 32	43	Petrarca Padova
Narbonne	4 – 0	52 – 23	29	Rotherham
Pau	4 – 0	58 – 34	24	Overmach Parma
Brive	2 – 2	61 – 41	20	Viadana
London Irish	2 – 2	62 – 54	8	Montauban
Connacht	2 – 2	29 – 23	6	Béziers

Round 2

1st leg

10 January 2004 14:00

Connacht	29 – 7	Pau
	Report

Galway Sportsgrounds Attendance: 2,000

10 January 2004 19:30

Montauban	8 – 43	NEC Harlequins
	Report

Stadio Luigi Zaffanella Attendance: 3,000

11 January 2004 14:30

Newcastle Falcons	10 – 3	Montferrand
	Report

Kingston Park Attendance: 4,950

11 January 2004 15:00

Brive	30 – 17	Castres Olympique
	Report

Stade Amédée-Domenech Attendance: 4,000

11 January 2004 15:00

Colomiers	25 – 32	Bath
	Report

Stade Selery Attendance: 4,500

11 January 2004 15:00

Grenoble	15 – 19	Béziers
	Report

Stade Lesdiguières Attendance: 4,500

11 January 2004 15:00

London Irish	20 – 13	Narbonne
	Report

Madejski Stadium Attendance: 4,525

11 January 2004 15:00

Saracens	37 – 6	Glasgow
	Report

Vicarage Road Attendance: 3,653

2nd leg

16 January 2004 19:30

Glasgow	33 – 5	Saracens
	Report

Hughenden Stadium Attendance: 2,645

17 January 2004 14:15

Bath	26 – 17	Colomiers
	Report

The Recreation Ground Attendance: 9,980

17 January 2004 15:00

NEC Harlequins	36 – 17	Montauban
	Report

The Stoop Attendance: 5,011

17 January 2004 19:00

Pau	10 – 6	Connacht
	Report

Stade du Hameau Attendance: 3,000

17 January 2004 19:30

Béziers	24 – 8	Grenoble
	Report

Stade de la Méditerranée Attendance: 4,389

17 January 2004 19:30

Narbonne	29 – 10	London Irish
	Report

Parc des Sports et de l'Amitié Attendance: 4,000

18 January 2004 15:00

Montferrand	25 – 13	Newcastle Falcons
	Report

Stade Marcel-Michelin Attendance: 7,500

18 January 2004 15:00

Castres Olympique	31 – 28	Brive
	Report

Stade Pierre-Antoine Attendance: 2,500

Aggregate Results

Proceed to Quarter-final	Match points	Aggregate score	Points margin	Eliminated from competition
NEC Harlequins	4 – 0	79 – 25	54	Montauban
Béziers	4 – 0	43 – 23	20	Grenoble
Bath	4 – 0	58 – 42	16	Colomiers
Connacht	2 – 2	35 – 17	18	Pau
Narbonne	2 – 2	42 – 30	12	London Irish
Brive	2 – 2	58 – 48	10	Castres Olympique
Montferrand	2 – 2	28 – 23	5	Newcastle Falcons
Saracens	2 – 2	42 – 39	3	Glasgow

Quarter-finals

1st leg

24 January 2004 15:00

NEC Harlequins	41 – 8	Brive
	Report

The Stoop Attendance: 4,950

24 January 2004 19:30

Béziers	24 – 19	Bath
	Report

Stade de la Méditerranée Attendance: 2,553

24 January 2004 19:30

Narbonne	18 – 27	Connacht
	Report

Parc des Sports et de l'Amitié Attendance: 4,000

25 January 2004 15:00

Montferrand	26 – 10	Saracens
	Report

Stade Marcel-Michelin Attendance: 9,444

2nd leg

31 January 2004 14:00

Connacht	16 – 10	Narbonne
	Report

Galway Sportsgrounds Attendance: 2,000

31 January 2004 14:15

Bath	26 – 7	Béziers
	Report

The Recreation Ground Attendance: 5,571

1 February 2004 15:00

Brive	36 – 20	NEC Harlequins
	Report

Stade Amédée-Domenech Attendance: 5,000

1 February 2004 15:00

Saracens	18 – 14	Montferrand
	Report

Vicarage Road Attendance: 4,058

Aggregate Results

Proceed to Semifinal	Match points	Aggregate score	Points margin	Eliminated from competition
Connacht	4 – 0	43 – 28	15	Narbonne
NEC Harlequins	2 – 2	61 – 44	17	Brive
Bath	2 – 2	45 – 31	14	Béziers
Montferrand	2 – 2	40 – 28	12	Saracens

Semi-finals

1st leg

10 April 2004 13:00

Bath	29 – 15	Montferrand
	Report

The Recreation Ground Attendance: 7,700

11 April 2004 13:00

NEC Harlequins	31 – 22	Connacht
	Report

The Stoop Attendance: 6,573

2nd leg

24 April 2004 14:00

Montferrand	38 – 22	Bath
	Report

Stade Marcel-Michelin Attendance: 4,000

25 April 2004 13:00

Connacht	23 – 18	NEC Harlequins
	Report

Galway Sportsgrounds Attendance: 6,000

Aggregate Results

Proceed to Final	Match points	Aggregate score	Points margin	Eliminated from competition
NEC Harlequins	2 – 2	49 – 45	4	Connacht
Montferrand	2 – 2	53 – 51	2	Bath

Final

22 May 2004 12:00

Montferrand	26 – 27	NEC Harlequins
Try: Azam Mignoni Con: Floch (2) Pen: Floch (3) Drop: Merceron (1)	Report	Try: Duffy Keogh Con: Dunne (1) Pen: Burke (4) Dunne (1)

Madejski Stadium, Reading, Berkshire Attendance: 13,123 Referee: Nigel Whitehouse (Wales)

See also

• 2003-04 Heineken Cup
• European Challenge Cup
• 2003–04 European Shield