Pitted against the same final opponents, Guinness Premiership giants Leicester Tigers, the Welsh region powered to a 23-6 success after dominating the proceedings at the home of English Rugby. The Ospreys, led by Wales captain Ryan Jones, lifted the EDF trophy in front of a 67,000 strong crowd, the sweet revenge of the victory delighting the travelling hordes in the black and white jerseys.

As the 2007–2008 tournament saw the axing of regionalised pools, reigning champions Tigers were drawn in Pool B alongside Sale, Bath and Welsh region the Cardiff Blues – who hoped to better their semi-final position gained in the previous season; Dai Young’s team having tasted defeat at the hands of fellow Welsh region the Ospreys. This season’s tournament saw Lyn Jones’s side face Mike Ruddock’s Worcester Warriors first with other Pool opponents consisting of London Irish and Harlequins.

The remaining two Welsh regions entered the tournament aiming to elevate themselves from the Pool stages of the competition, having failed to do so in the last. Phil Davies’s Llanelli Scarlets, who last progressed to the latter stages of the competition in 2005–2006, were grouped with Saracens, Leeds Carnegie and Bristol. Meanwhile, the Newport Gwent Dragons – yet to advance beyond the Pool stages of the EDF Energy Cup competition – faced one of the toughest line-ups as they took on reigning European Champions London Wasps, Gloucester and the Newcastle Falcons.

Rounds one and two of the campaign were staged on consecutive weekends in late October and at the start of November 2007, and saw a very mixed bag of results for the Welsh regions with just one gaining two victories on the bounce. The Cardiff Blues hosted Sale Sharks in the opening fixture of the 2007–2008 tournament and started off the proceedings for Wales in the best possible fashion. Dominating the first half, with Blues debutant Gareth Thomas running amok in a brace-scoring display, further tries in the first forty minutes from scrum half Jason Spice and captain Xavier Rush effectually ended the match as a contest. The Blues ran out eventual 32-15 victors; speedy winger Tom James added a fifth try for good measure in the closing minutes of the match at the Arms Park.

The second Welsh region in action also secured an emphatic victory over their English adversaries. The Ospreys secured an easy bonus point win with a seven try, 47-16 romp at Sixways over Worcester. A third minute try from Lee Byrne set the tone of the game, his teammates Nicky Walker and Shane Williams adding to the first-half 21-6 scoreline. Both Williams and Byrne completed their braces in the second half and scrum half Mike Phillips and centre Sonny Parker completed the try-scoring to send the Welsh region to the top of the Pool C table after the first weekend of battle, as the Harlequins completed a low-scoring victory over London Irish at the Madejski Stadium. In less dramatic affairs, the Dragons held Wasps to a 3-3 draw in difficult conditions at Rodney Parade. Ceri Sweeney and Danny Cipriani added the three points apiece. The only Welsh defeat of the weekend was witnessed at the Memorial Stadium as Bristol ran out 18-11 winners on home turf. The Scarlets were on the wrong end of a 15-3 deficit at half-time but the losing bonus point, secured through a Morgan Stoddart injury-time effort, gave the West Wales region some hope of success in the competition.

Following their first round loss to Bath, Leicester Tigers enacted their revenge on the Cardiff Blues as the Welsh region travelled to Welford Road on the second weekend of competition. The Blues squandered a good first half performance as Tom Varndel and Johne Murphy ran in two tries in ten minutes in a blitz at the start of the second half – aided by the fact that Blues’ hooker Gareth Williams was sin-binned at the close of the first. The Tigers ran out 42-20 winners to even up Pool B, with all teams having played two, won one, lost one: Sale Sharks having defeated Bath 25-10 at Edgeley Park on the previous evening.

The Scarlets made up for their round one loss with an impressive 59-19 victory over Leeds Carnegie on home turf. The eight try rout included a brace for fullback and Wales U20 star  Daniel Evans and nineteen points from the boot of fly half Stephen Jones to put Phil Davies’s men back into contention in their Pool, with the crucial match against Saracens (on two wins out of two) to follow in December. The Ospreys similarly recorded a high points-scoring victory at home as they demolished opponents London Irish. Wing wizard Shane Williams claimed a hat-trick in the seven try showing that almost guaranteed the Ospreys a berth in the semi-finals of the competition; the Harlequins would need a bonus point win in the third and final Pool match to deny the Welsh region a place in the latter stages. Other notable scores in the match came from Welsh international forwards Alun Wyn Jones and Jonathan Thomas in the Liberty Stadium showdown. The Dragons though were unable to complete a weekend of Welsh wins as they valiantly went down 29-24 to the Newcastle Falcons. Though fighting back from a 17-0 deficit Paul Turner’s men were unable to overcome their hosts at Kingston Park. The fourth Welsh try came with less than ten minutes to play – young prop Rhys Thomas completing a superb brace – which handed the Dragons two losing bonus points to keep their slim hopes of progression alive as they rested at the foot of the Pool A table.

The third weekend of competition saw the Ospreys power through to a semi-final spot as they gained a hard-fought 18-9 victory over Harlequins, the win handing Lyn Jones’s men a 100% success rate at the Pool stage of the EDF tournament. The Welsh side took a slender 6-3 lead into the break at the Twickenham Stoop as they were reduced to just twelve men in the space of ten minutes at the close of the initial forty minutes. The Quins gained a try shortly after the restart but as they needed at least three more to hold any hopes of knocking the Ospreys off their top-of-the-table perch the effort was in vain. Ten late points from the previously sin-binned Gavin Henson secured the Ospreys’ victory, and place in the last four of the tournament. The Dragons finished their 2007–2008 campaign winless as they battled against Gloucester but were unable to grind out a win at Rodney Parade. With both teams unable to qualify for the latter stages of the competition the closely contested dead-rubber match saw the Dragons take an 8-3 half-time lead thanks to a try from prop Adam Black. However, a try at the death by a Welshman secured the victory for Gloucester; Gareth Delve crossed the line for a last-gasp try and Chris Paterson’s cool conversion rounded off a disappointing tournament for the Gwent region.

The Cardiff Blues faced Bath at the Recreation Ground for their final and crucial match in Pool B. With the ties scored at six apiece at half time Dai Flanagan edged his side into the lead in the second half with this third penalty and a late try by flanker Robin Sowden-Taylor sealed the hard-fought win. Dai Young’s men though were not to taste semi-final glory for the second successive season as Marcelo Loffreda’s Tigers had triumphed over the Sharks in the third round clash and due to their acquisition of three bonus points in comparison to the Blues’ solitary one, the Tigers had clawed their way to a semi-final berth.

In another crunch match that went down to the wire the Scarlets saw their hopes of qualification disappear in the fading light of the winter’s afternoon at Stradey Park. Despite having lost to the Welsh region, by way of the two bonus points gained in this free-flowing game of rugby English giants Saracens progressed to the semi-finals leaving the Scarlets, with their hollow victory, in their wake. In this thrilling encounter the Scarlets opened up a six point lead through Stephen Jones’s boot but the sin-binning of captain Simon Easterby resulted in the Scarlets conceding a penalty try soon afterwards. Scott Macleod pulled the scores back for the home side and with further efforts at the posts from Jones the Scarlets led 16-7 at the break. The fly half secured a converted try on the restart to push his side into a comfortable 23-7 lead but this was cancelled out by Adam Powell’s effort minutes later. A quick-fire double from Jonathan Davies and Garan Evans took the Scarlets’ advantage to 33-14, five tries having been scored in 16 minutes, with the bonus point now secured by the Scarlets. Saracens required two more scores for a try bonus and a losing bonus point to secure a semi-final place. The first of which was granted as Fijian Kameli Ratuvou gained a score and the side were soon afterwards awarded their second penalty try of the game. Two penalty goals kicked by Andy Farrell, one in injury time, crucially handed the visitors a losing bonus point which secured the EDF Energy Cup semi-final place in defeat, the heartbroken Scarlets having failed to progress for the second successive season.

With Welsh hopes of silverware now resting on the Ospreys alone they faced the first of two scheduled battles against Saracens as the region would face the Guinness Premiership giants in the quarter-finals of the Heineken Cup two weeks later; in hindsight the Ospreys were to win only one of these high-profile clashes. With Lyn Jones selecting nine of the Wales team who started against France in the RBS Six Nations Grand Slam finale just a week previously, the Ospreys started in emphatic style with Shane Williams and Jonathan Thomas both denied tries in the opening five minutes. James Hook gained a penalty goal just before the half an hour mark but wing wizard Williams maintained his superb form with a try before the half time interval for an eight point unanswered lead at the break.

Glen Jackson kicked what would prove to be Saracens’ sole points of the game after the restart before Gavin Henson, in blistering form, notched another try for the ‘home’ side; the Millennium Stadium playing host to both semi-finals in a double header day of rugby. Just 90 seconds after coming onto the pitch as a replacement Filo Tiatia powered over for a third before Williams raced over eight minutes later to complete his brace and brilliant performance. James Hook’s boot accumulated ten points in the match to secure the resounding victory at 30-3. The triumphant win ensured a mouth-watering re-match of the previous season’s EDF Energy Cup Final against Leicester Tigers at Twickenham, as Loffredo’s men had gained their final berth after a 34-24 defeat of London Wasps.

Two successful attempts at the posts from Andy Goode put the Tigers into a six point lead after 17 minutes of the final clash at Twickenham. Yet Goode’s penalty and drop goal were to be the only English points scored in the finale; despite early onslaughts on the Ospreys line from Ollie Smith, Ben Kay and Jordan Crane the Welsh defence held firm. The Ospreys upped their game and started to gain the ascendency soon afterwards as just five minutes after Goode’s dropped goal the Welsh region attained their first match points. Captain Jones galvanised a forward surge and in the first serious attacking movement of the match centre Andrew Bishop powered over the Tigers’ line. Hook’s conversion edged the region a solitary point ahead; he later missed a chance to increase this first half advantage as he was off-form at the posts.

The second half brought another Ospreys try as Wales forward Alun Wyn Jones crashed over the whitewash after teammate Lee Byrne’s initial break. Hook’s conversion and penalty goal ten minutes later handed the Ospreys a comfortable 17-6 lead. Gareth Owen would have scored a certain try for the Ospreys had a pass not have been deemed forward. However, two coolly converted penalty goals from Hook pushed the lead, and eventual scoreline, to 23-6 to round off a complete performance for the Welsh, with Ryan Jones able to lift his second piece of silverware for a Welsh side in seven days in front of jubilant Welsh fans.