IN THE BEGINNING
First and foremost the league was unrecognisable to what it has evolved into today, with two pools of eight and seven teams respectively comprised of representatives from Ireland, Wales and Scotland.
This was before the formation of the four Welsh regions - instead nine club sides represented the country alongside the four Irish provinces and Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Teams played each other once before the top four in their respective pools progressed to the quarter-finals, while both the semi-finals and final were played at Lansdowne Road.
Brewery Field hosted the first ever match, between Bridgend and Pontypridd, which the visitors won 27-19, Pontypridd's Richard Johnston scoring, the first-ever league try after ten minutes.
A young Ronan O'Gara slots a penalty for Munster
THE EARLY WINNERS
Quite simply no one could cope with the Irish provinces' clout in the league's formation year, as the four teams finished in the top two of each pool.
Leinster made a clean sweep of the regular season games, winning all seven and putting on 281 points in the process.
Though the boys in blue were in a league of their own, the battle in the rest of Pool A was far closer - as fellow quarter-finalists Ulster, Glasgow and Llanelli were separated by just one point.
In Pool B, nothing was stopping Munster after a 51-10 victory secured top spot and knocked Cardifff out of the top four spots.
In their place, Newport clinched a knockout berth by beating Neath 19-11 - who had to settle for an away quarter-final - while Connacht snuck into second.
THE KNOCKOUTS
Shane Horgan just about gathers the ball in before scoring in the final
It was so nearly an Irish clean sweep heading into the semis, but Andy Nicol and company made sure of Scottish representation as Glasgow downed Connacht 34-29 - despite a late burst of heavy pressure at the Sportsground.
When flanker Gareth Flockhart touched down in the second half, history ran its course though the Scots were made to defend desperately in the closing stages.
A trip to Lansdowne Road was to prove a step too far however as Leinster, who had beaten Neath in the quarter-finals, booked their place in the league's first-ever final.
But it was far tighter between Munster and Ulster, as Ronan O'Gara outgunned David Humphreys with the boot by 15 points to nine - and that was how the match finished.
Ultimately no one was to stop a famous Leinster side, but it took a tremendous display of fight and courage to prevent Munster from glory.
As a maiden final it had everything - though some may have been worried that it would descend into a one-sided affair after Eric Miller was sent off for Leinster in the first half.
Anthony Foley's early try - which had been created following superb work from Rob Henderson - gave Munster the advantage before Miller lashed out to earn his marching orders.
And when John O'Neill touched down just before the end of the first half, the Munstermen headed in 12-6 to the good.
But Shane Horgan, who was eventually awarded man of the match, inspired Leinster after the break - and Nathan Spooner's boot first reduced the arrears to three points.
Gordon D'Arcy then linked up with Horgan to cross in the 66th minute and put Leinster ahead for the first time, with Spooner's conversion making it a four-point lead.
Within five minutes Brian O'Driscoll's chip ahead allowed Horgan to score himself and with that, despite a late Munster fightback, Leinster held on for a 24-20 victory.
THE STAR MEN
Ulster's famous No.10, David Humphreys
Leinster did not scoop all of the awards that year as David Humphreys was confirmed the league's top points scorer - having collected an impressive 122 points from eight games.
Glasgow's Kiwi fly-half, Tommy Hayes, finished on 111 points while Neath's Lee Jarvis was the league's other centurion with 100.
As for the top try-scorers - that accolade was shared by Leinster double act Girvan Dempsey and Denis Hickie, underlining their side's dominance all year.
In joint third was Cardiff's Craig Hudson and Wayne Munn of Connacht, as they both finished up with half a dozen tries each.
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