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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)
Top try scorer(s)	Simon Danielli (Bath) (6 tries)
Final
Venue	Madejski Stadium, Reading, Berkshire
Attendance	13,123
Champions	NEC Harlequins (2nd title)
Runners-up	Montferrand
← 2002–03 (Previous)(Next) 2004–05 →

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.

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. 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.

Round 1

1st leg

Rotherham	10 – 17	Narbonne
	Report

Leonessa	0 – 55	Montferrand
	Report

Valladolid RAC	10 – 71	Newcastle Falcons
	Report

Rugby Roma	13 – 45	Saracens
	Report

Gran Parma	10 – 35	Grenoble
	Report

L'Aquila	11 – 75	Bath
	Report

Rovigo	14 – 53	Castres Olympique
	Report

Colomiers	37 – 12	Petrarca Padova
	Report

Montpellier	11 – 30	Glasgow
	Report

Brive	39 – 3	Viadana
	Report

El Salvador	18 – 31	NEC Harlequins
	Report

Montauban	30 – 26	London Irish
	Report

Overmach Parma	28 – 33	Pau
	Report

Béziers	10 – 18	Connacht
	Report

2nd leg

Glasgow	38 – 13	Montpellier
	Report

Narbonne	35 – 13	Rotherham
	Report

Connacht	11 – 13	Béziers
	Report

Bath	50 – 0	L'Aquila
	Report

NEC Harlequins	63 – 3	El Salvador
	Report

Petrarca Padova	20 – 38	Colomiers
	Report

Montferrand	58 – 3	Leonessa
	Report

Castres Olympique	75 – 10	Rovigo
	Report

Pau	25 – 6	Overmach Parma
	Report

Grenoble	41 – 6	Gran Parma
	Report

Newcastle Falcons	66 – 27	Valladolid RAC
	Report

Viadana	38 – 22	Brive
	Report

London Irish	36 – 24	Montauban
	Report

Saracens	82 – 5	Rugby Roma
	Report

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

Connacht	29 – 7	Pau
	Report

Montauban	8 – 43	NEC Harlequins
	Report

Newcastle Falcons	10 – 3	Montferrand
	Report

Brive	30 – 17	Castres Olympique
	Report

Colomiers	25 – 32	Bath
	Report

Grenoble	15 – 19	Béziers
	Report

London Irish	20 – 13	Narbonne
	Report

Saracens	37 – 6	Glasgow
	Report

2nd leg

Glasgow	33 – 5	Saracens
	Report

Bath	26 – 17	Colomiers
	Report

NEC Harlequins	36 – 17	Montauban
	Report

Pau	10 – 6	Connacht
	Report

Béziers	24 – 8	Grenoble
	Report

Narbonne	29 – 10	London Irish
	Report

Montferrand	25 – 13	Newcastle Falcons
	Report

Castres Olympique	31 – 28	Brive
	Report

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

NEC Harlequins	41 – 8	Brive
	Report

Béziers	24 – 19	Bath
	Report

Narbonne	18 – 27	Connacht
	Report

Montferrand	26 – 10	Saracens
	Report

2nd leg

Connacht	16 – 10	Narbonne
	Report

Bath	26 – 7	Béziers
	Report

Brive	36 – 20	NEC Harlequins
	Report

Saracens	18 – 14	Montferrand
	Report

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

Bath	29 – 15	Montferrand
	Report

NEC Harlequins	31 – 22	Connacht
	Report

2nd leg

Montferrand	38 – 22	Bath
	Report

Connacht	23 – 18	NEC Harlequins
	Report

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

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)

See also

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

References

1. "Amlin Challenge Cup: Points Scorers". Retrieved 28 January 2013.
2. "Amlin Challenge Cup: Try Scorers". Retrieved 28 January 2013.
3. "Challenge Cup European Champions". ERC. Archived from the original on 6 May 2008. Retrieved 26 January 2013.
4. "Challenge Cup Fixtures". ERC. Retrieved 28 January 2013.
5. According to the ERC web site. Montauban usually play at Stade Sapiac.
6. According to the ERC web site. Viadana usually play at Stadio Luigi Zaffanella.

• 2003–04 European Challenge Cup
• 2003–04 rugby union tournaments for clubs
• EPCR Challenge Cup seasons
• 2003–04 in European rugby union
• 2003–04 in English rugby union
• 2003–04 in French rugby union
• 2003–04 in Irish rugby union
• 2003–04 in Italian rugby union
• 2003–04 in Romanian rugby union
• 2003–04 in Spanish rugby union
• 2003–04 in Scottish rugby union