Email
The long-running saga over the tournament's future has often overshadowed the on-field performances but here we look at key moments from the campaign now the quarter-finalists have been decided
Best wins
1) Connacht at Toulouse (Round 3)
2) Leinster at Northampton (Rd 3)
3) Ulster at Leicester (Rd 6)
4) Cardiff Blues at home to Toulon (Rd 1)
5) Scarlets at Harlequins (Rd 1)
Most influential individuals
1) Sitiveni Sivivatu
2) Ruan Pienaar
3) Louis Picamoles
Most significant tries
1) Pienaar's charge-down at Welford Road
2) JJ Hanrahan's last-gasp effort for Munster at Perpignan
3) Vincent Debaty's bonus-point score to earn Clermont a home quarter-final draw
The key statistics
Most team tries scored: 29 – Saracens
Top try-scorer: 7 – Chris Ashton (Saracens)
Top point-scorer: 73 – Jonny Wilkinson (Toulon)
Most metres gained: 565 – Mike Brown (Harlequins)
Top tackler: 80 – Cornell du Preez (Edinburgh)
Best defensive records: Ulster and Toulouse. Both conceded only four tries in six games.
Most atmospheric venues
1) Stade Félix Mayol
2) Stade Marcel-Michelin
3) Welford Road
Players on the rise
1) Scott Williams (Scarlets)
2) Paddy Jackson (Ulster)
3) Ian Keatley (Munster)
Oddest outcome
Glasgow finished bottom of their pool despite scoring more tries than Cardiff and Exeter and conceding fewer. Flanker Chris Fusaro typified their spirit.
Most promising rookies
1) Jordan Williams (Scarlets)
2=) Jack Nowell and Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs); T Collins (Northampton)
Biggest disappointment
Treviso and Zebre: collectively they scored four tries and conceded 50.
Grounds for applause
The combined attendance for the pool rounds was a record 921,196.
Room for improvement
1) Euro politics. Enough said.
2) Save time by stopping the game clock when scrums collapse.
3) Forward pass detection. Even the TMOs are finding it hard.
Six Nations pointers
1) Wesley Fofana. Oozed class every time he had the ball.
2) Nigel Owens. Whenever he's refereeing the game is the better for it.
3) Scott Williams. Has hurt England before and is in good enough form to do so again.
They said it
"Whether we like it or not I think rugby will go the same way as football without the noughts." Saracens' chairman Nigel Wray predicts television money will shape the future of rugby union.
"It's not a nice place for opposition teams to come. We like it that way." Vern Cotter, Clermont's head coach, reflects on his side's 71-game unbeaten run at Stade Marcel Michelin.
"These battles cannot go on without more weary followers of our game opting to find others things to do with their time." Former Wales fly-half Phil Bennett on the ongoing political dispute between the Welsh Rugby Union and the regions.
"We'll put a bit of pressure on the builders to make sure we're ready." Ulster's Rory Best looks forward to a bigger capacity at Ravenhill for the quarter-final visit of Saracens.
"We want Jonny." Exeter fans plead for Toulon's in-form place-kicker Matt Giteau to hand over the tee.
"I'm not sure I want us to be that entertaining." Leicester's Richard Cockerill after Montpellier gave the Tigers a late scare at Welford Road.
"If you're spending in the region of £20m on a squad when we're spending £5m, it's a huge disparity but that's part of the challenge." Conor O'Shea reflects on his Harlequins side's victory over Racing Métro.
Best in Pool XV
A Goode (Saracens); S Sivivatu (Clermont Auvergne), W Fofana (Clermont), M Giteau (Toulon), G North (Northampton); N Evans (Harlequins), R Pienaar (Ulster); C Healy (Leinster), R Hibbard (Ospreys), J Afoa (Ulster), P O'Connell (Munster), J Muller (Ulster), S Manoa (Northampton), S Armitage (Toulon), L Picamoles (Toulouse).
This article was corrected to reflect that Connacht beat Toulouse rather than Toulon in round 3.
;