2004–05 European Challenge Cup

The 2004–05 European Challenge Cup (known as the Parker Pen Challenge Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the ninth 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.

2004-05 European Challenge Cup
Tournament details
Countries	England France Ireland Italy Portugal Scotland Spain
Tournament format(s)	Knockout
Date	23 October 2004 – 21 May 2005
Tournament statistics
Teams	28
Matches played	57
Attendance	177,521 (3,114 per match)
Tries scored	360 (6.32 per match)
Top point scorer(s)	Paul Warwick (Connacht) (97 points)[1]
Top try scorer(s)	Mark Cueto (Sale Sharks) (9 tries)[2]
Final
Venue	Kassam Stadium, Oxford
Attendance	7,230
Champions	Sale Sharks (2nd title)
Runners-up	Pau
← 2003–04 (Previous) (Next) 2005–06 →

The competition began with a series of matches on 23 October 2004 and culminated in the final at the Kassam Stadium in Oxford on 21 May 2005.

As in the previous two seasons, 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. This was the final season with a pure knockout format; in subsequent seasons the competition reverted to a pool stage followed by a knockout.

For the third and final 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 NEC Harlequins, did not have a chance to defend their crown because they qualified to play in the Heineken Cup. Sale Sharks claimed a comfortable victory over Pau in the final and picked up their second piece of European Club silverware.

Teams

The allocation of teams was as follows:

England: 5 teams — all teams from the Zurich Premiership that did not qualify for the 2004–05 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

Portugal: 1 team

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	Portugal	Scotland	Spain
Leeds Tykes London Irish Sale Sharks Saracens Worcester Warriors	Agen Auch Bayonne Béziers Brive Clermont Auvergne Grenoble Montpellier Narbonne Pau	Connacht	Catania Gran Parma L'Aquila Leonessa Overmach Parma Petrarca Padova Rovigo Viadana	AA Coimbra	Borders	El Salvador Valladolid RAC

Matches

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

Round 1

1st leg

23 October 2004 14:00

AA Coimbra	3 – 98	Borders
	Report

Estádio Municipal Sérgio Conceição Attendance: 400

23 October 2004 14:00

Worcester Warriors	29 – 15	Brive
	Report

Sixways Stadium Attendance: 4,036

23 October 2004 15:00

Gran Parma	15 – 35	Pau
	Report

Stadio Nando Capra Attendance: 700

23 October 2004 15:00

L'Aquila	27 – 50	Agen
	Report

Stadio Tommaso Fattori Attendance: 1,500

23 October 2004 15:30

Rovigo	7 – 51	Montpellier
	Report

Stadio Comunale Mario Battaglini Attendance: 500

23 October 2004 16:00

Petrarca Padova	24 – 57	Béziers
	Report

Stadio Plebiscito Attendance: 200

23 October 2004 16:30

Valladolid RAC	3 – 88	Viadana
	Report

Estadio Pepe Rojo Attendance: 2,000

23 October 2004 18:00

Auch	18 – 20	London Irish
	Report

Stade Patrice Brocas Attendance: 1,500

23 October 2004 19:00

Bayonne	21 – 24	Saracens
	Report

Stade Jean Dauger Attendance: 3,800

23 October 2004 19:30

Grenoble	9 – 9	Leeds Tykes
	Report

Stade Lesdiguières Attendance: 3,000

23 October 2004 19:30

Narbonne	25 – 11	Connacht
	Report

Parc des Sports et de l'Amitié Attendance: 3,000

23 October 2004 20:00

Leonessa	0 – 65	Clermont Auvergne
	Report

Campo Comunale di Rugby Attendance: 400

24 October 2004 12:30

El Salvador	36 – 12	Overmach Parma
	Report

Estadio Pepe Rojo Attendance: 1,500

24 October 2004 15:00

Catania	22 – 31	Sale Sharks
	Report

Stadio Santa Maria Goretti Attendance: 2,000

2nd leg

29 October 2004 19:30

Borders	107 – 3	AA Coimbra
	Report

Netherdale Attendance: 1,450

29 October 2004 19:30

Montpellier	59 – 3	Rovigo
	Report

Stade Sabathé Attendance: 1,500

29 October 2004 19:45

Saracens	36 – 10	Bayonne
	Report

Vicarage Road Attendance: 4,906

29 October 2004 20:00

Leeds Tykes	17 – 18	Grenoble
	Report

Headingley Stadium Attendance: 2,805

30 October 2004 14:30

Connacht	40 – 21	Narbonne
	Report

Galway Sportsgrounds Attendance: 2,000

30 October 2004 14:30

Overmach Parma	36 – 10	El Salvador
	Report

Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi Attendance: 300

30 October 2004 15:00

Béziers	69 – 18	Petrarca Padova
	Report

Stade de la Méditerranée Attendance: 800

30 October 2004 19:00

Pau	31 – 22	Gran Parma
	Report

Stade du Hameau Attendance: 3,000

30 October 2004 19:30

Agen	59 – 21	L'Aquila
	Report

Stade Armandie Attendance: 4,128

30 October 2004 19:30

Brive	40 – 10	Worcester Warriors
	Report

Stade Amédée-Domenech Attendance: 5,100

30 October 2004 19:30

Clermont Auvergne	51 – 6	Leonessa
	Report

Stade Marcel-Michelin Attendance: 6,000

30 October 2004 19:30

Viadana	59 – 7	Valladolid RAC
	Report

Stadio Luigi Zaffanella Attendance: 500

31 October 2004 15:00

London Irish	42 – 18	Auch
	Report

Madejski Stadium Attendance: 5,638

31 October 2004 15:00

Sale Sharks	50 – 3	Catania
	Report

Edgeley Park Attendance: 5,126

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
Borders	4 – 0	205 – 6	199	AA Coimbra
Viadana	4 – 0	147 – 10	137	Valladolid RAC
Clermont Auvergne	4 – 0	116 – 6	110	Leonessa
Montpellier	4 – 0	110 – 10	100	Rovigo
Béziers	4 – 0	126 – 42	84	Petrarca Padova
Agen	4 – 0	109 – 48	61	L'Aquila
Sale Sharks	4 – 0	81 – 25	56	Catania
Pau	4 – 0	66 – 37	29	Bayonne
Saracens	4 – 0	60 – 31	29	Gran Parma
London Irish	4 – 0	62 – 36	26	Auch
Grenoble	3 – 1	27 – 26	1	Leeds Tykes
Brive	2 – 2	55 – 39	16	Worcester Warriors
Connacht	2 – 2	51 – 46	5	Narbonne
Overmach Parma	2 – 2	48 – 46	2	El Salvador

Round 2

1st leg

3 December 2004 19:30

Béziers	12 – 27	Grenoble
	Report

Stade de la Méditerranée Attendance: 2,100

4 December 2004 14:30

Connacht	56 – 3	Montpellier
	Report

Galway Sportsgrounds Attendance: 2,200

4 December 2004 15:00

Overmach Parma	19 – 18	Saracens
	Report

Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi Attendance: 800

4 December 2004 18:30

Narbonne	15 – 33	Sale Sharks
	Report

Parc des Sports et de l'Amitié Attendance: 2,600

4 December 2004 19:00

Pau	25 – 19	London Irish
	Report

Stade du Hameau Attendance: 3,000

4 December 2004 19:30

Agen	23 – 15	Viadana
	Report

Stade Armandie Attendance: 3,000

4 December 2004 19:30

Brive	57 – 6	El Salvador
	Report

Stade Amédée-Domenech Attendance: 6,329

5 December 2004 15:00

Clermont Auvergne	44 – 14	Borders
	Report

Stade Marcel-Michelin Attendance: 6,892

2nd leg

10 December 2004 19:30

Grenoble	38 – 26	Béziers
	Report

Stade Lesdiguières Attendance: 2,000

10 December 2004 19:30

Montpellier	19 – 14	Connacht
	Report

Stade Sabathé Attendance: 1,000

10 December 2004 19:45

Sale Sharks	25 – 10	Narbonne
	Report

Edgeley Park Attendance: 5,854

11 December 2004 14:30

Viadana	22 – 17	Agen
	Report

Stadio Luigi Zaffanella Attendance: 2,000

11 December 2004 16:30

El Salvador	23 – 45	Brive
	Report

Estadio Pepe Rojo Attendance: 1,300

12 December 2004 14:00

Borders	23 – 34	Clermont Auvergne
	Report

Netherdale Attendance: 1,400

12 December 2004 14:30

London Irish	19 – 16	Pau
	Report

Madejski Stadium Attendance: 5,391

12 December 2004 15:00

Saracens	52 – 6	Overmach Parma
	Report

Vicarage Road Attendance: 5,391

Aggregate Results

Proceed to Quarter-final	Match points	Aggregate score	Points margin	Eliminated from competition
Brive	4 – 0	102 – 29	73	El Salvador
Clermont Auvergne	4 – 0	78 – 37	41	Borders
Sale Sharks	4 – 0	58 – 25	33	Narbonne
Grenoble	4 – 0	65 – 38	27	Béziers
Connacht	2 – 2	70 – 22	48	Montpellier
Saracens	2 – 2	70 – 25	45	Overmach Parma
Pau	2 – 2	41 – 38	3	London Irish
Agen	2 – 2	40 – 37	3	Viadana

Quarter-finals

1st leg

7 January 2005 19:30

Grenoble	21 – 26	Connacht
	Report

Stade Lesdiguières Attendance: 2,700

7 January 2005 19:45

Sale Sharks	34 – 18	Agen
	Report

Edgeley Park Attendance: 4,866

8 January 2005 19:30

Pau	25 – 21	Clermont Auvergne
	Report

Stade du Hameau Attendance: 3,000

9 January 2005 15:00

Saracens	19 – 6	Brive
	Report

Vicarage Road Attendance: 4,201

2nd leg

14 January 2005 19:30

Clermont Auvergne	26 – 25	Pau
	Report

Stade Marcel-Michelin Attendance: 5,222

15 January 2005 14:00

Connacht	19 – 3	Grenoble
	Report

Galway Sportsgrounds Attendance: 2,500

15 January 2005 19:30

Agen	17 – 15	Sale Sharks
	Report

Stade Armandie Attendance: 3,500

16 January 2005 15:00

Brive	31 – 16	Saracens
	Report

Stade Amédée-Domenech Attendance: 6,000

Aggregate Results

Proceed to Semi-final	Match points	Aggregate score	Points margin	Eliminated from competition
Connacht	4 – 0	45 – 24	21	Grenoble
Sale Sharks	2 – 2	49 – 35	14	Agen
Pau	2 – 2	50 – 47	3	Clermont Auvergne
Brive	2 – 2	37 – 35	2	Saracens

Semi-finals

1st leg

2 April 2005 13:00

Connacht	18 – 25	Sale Sharks
	Report

Galway Sportsgrounds Attendance: 5,800

3 April 2005 14:00

Pau	37 – 16	Brive
	Report

Stade du Hameau Attendance: 2,000

2nd leg

23 April 2005 19:15

Brive	27 – 13	Pau
	Report

Stade Amédée-Domenech Attendance: 5,000

24 April 2005 13:00

Sale Sharks	59 – 9	Connacht
	Report

Edgeley Park Attendance: 6,456

Aggregate Results

Proceed to Final	Match points	Aggregate score	Points margin	Eliminated from competition
Sale Sharks	4 – 0	84 – 27	57	Connacht
Pau	2 – 2	50 – 43	7	Brive

Final

21 May 2005 12:45

Sale Sharks	27 – 3	Pau
Try: Hodgson (2) 24' c, 68' m Titterrell 36' c Cueto 56' m Con: Hodgson (2/4) Pen: Hodgson (1) 3'	Report	Pen: Beauxis (1) 30'

Kassam Stadium, Oxford Attendance: 7,230 Referee: Alan Lewis (Ireland)

See also

• 2004-05 Heineken Cup
• European Challenge Cup
• 2004–05 European Shield