ERC seedings 2012/13

First topic message reminder :

Plagiarized from another forum but below is what I understand to be the seedings for next years Heineken Cup;

Tier 1: Leinster, Toulouse, Munster, Biarritz, Cardiff, Northampton
Tier 2: Clermont, Ulster, Leicester, Harlequins, Toulon, Edinburgh
Tier 3: Ospreys, Scarlets, Glasgow, Saracens, Connacht, Sale
Tier 4: Treviso, Castres, Racing Metro, Montpelier, Aironi, Exeter

Time to start working out potential groups for next year. Please please please no mentions of "groups of death" AND before anyone starts creating impossible groups remember each group has to have a French and English team in it. Also, other than the French no other nation will have more than one team in the same group.

I am confident the groups are correct but will edit straight away if not. Aironi for a start are bidding farewell but they'll be replaced by another Italian team.

Leinster
Clermont
Ospreys
Exeter

That would surely be the hardest group.

For Quins i'd like:

Leinster
Quins
Ospreys
Castres

Some massive games in there and 3 of the four are title holders at the moment. Would be good to judge ourselves againt Leinster and Ospreys especially.

Castres is a brute of a place to go to, but they don't travel so well - and depending on when the match is in the calendar, I imagine they will be more or less interested?

Yea didn't Castres take Saints to the cleaners this season?

I think my least favourite pool would be

Biarritz
Quins
Connacht
Random Italians

yappysnap wrote:Yea didn't Castres take Saints to the cleaners this season?

yes (45-20), just a week before getting trashed 45-0 at frankin gardens.

they have indeed a truly bad record away from home, guess its a tradition in france where most teams are happy with a LBP away as long as they get a TBP at home (enough to go to the playoffs most of the time).

I am going to be very lazy and not read back but I wonder if any of the other groups from this season had 3 tier 2 teams or worse?

Anyone any idea if that looks like the toughest group from this season looking at next year's seedings?



Does any of that even make sense to anyone apart from me?

No

MrsP wrote:I am going to be very lazy and not read back but I wonder if any of the other groups from this season had 3 tier 2 teams or worse?

Anyone any idea if that looks like the toughest group from this season looking at next year's seedings?



Does any of that even make sense to anyone apart from me?

would be group 1 as it had 2 tier 1 teams from current seeds (munster + northampton) - group 4 with 3 tiers 2 was not bad as well

Not sure I agree with that Who.

2 teams can qualify from a tough group but I think it's harder if there are 3 good teams.

But I'm just glad you understood what I was trying to say.

Unlike some....

MrsP wrote:I am going to be very lazy and not read back but I wonder if any of the other groups from this season had 3 tier 2 teams or worse?

Anyone any idea if that looks like the toughest group from this season looking at next year's seedings?



Does any of that even make sense to anyone apart from me?

The seedings don't reflect the strength of the respective sides.

I look more at how each side did during the season.

E.g. Pool 5 - Biarritz - Amlin winners,Ospreys - Pro12 champs, Saracens - 3rd in the AP, playoff semis,

Pool 4 - Ulster - HC finalists,Clermont - HC semifinalists, still in the Top14 Leicester - 2nd in the AP,playoff final


Edinburgh,Biarritz and Cardiff might be higher tier than the likes of Ospreys and Saracens but does that make them better? Of course not.

How about these. Nasty one for Leinster. Sweet deal for Biarritz.

Handy for Northampton and Toulon. Good for Ulster and OK for Munster.


Leinster Clermont Ospreys Exeter

Toulouse Leicester Glasgow Montpellier

Munster Harlequins Scarlets Castres

Cardiff Blues Ulster Rugby Saracens Racing Métro

Northampton Toulon Connacht Treviso

Biarritz Edinburgh Sale Sharks Aironi Rugby (or whoever)

Toulouse Leicester Glasgow Castres

Hmm, not sure I like the look of that. Now Cardiff Blues, Leicester, Glasgow, Castres looks a bit better. Sarries can get stuck with Racing, Ulster and Tolouse in the group of death.

I think one of the top French seedings will end up with Montpellier rather than any of the other lower French seeds (as Montpellier are bottom French seed).

Smirnoffpriest wrote:I think one of the top French seedings will end up with Montpellier rather than any of the other lower French seeds (as Montpellier are bottom French seed).

Fair enough. I edited the post.

georgestowersbiceps wrote:Plagiarized from another forum but below is what I understand to be the seedings for next years Heineken Cup;

Tier 1: Leinster, Toulouse, Munster, Biarritz, Cardiff, Northampton
Tier 2: Clermont, Ulster, Leicester, Harlequins, Toulon, Edinburgh
Tier 3: Ospreys, Scarlets, Glasgow, Saracens, Connacht, Sale
Tier 4: Treviso, Castres, Racing Metro, Montpelier, Aironi, Exeter

Time to start working out potential groups for next year. Please please please no mentions of "groups of death" AND before anyone starts creating impossible groups remember each group has to have a French and English team in it. Also, other than the French no other nation will have more than one team in the same group.

I am confident the groups are correct but will edit straight away if not. Aironi for a start are bidding farewell but they'll be replaced by another Italian team.

Well that's messed up the point of the topic then surely, you want to start talking about groups but you dont want us to discuss the worst case scenario?

Group of death from the Ospreys point of view.
Toulouse
Leicester
Ospreys
Racing Metro

Easy (ish) group
Munster
Edinburgh
Ospreys
Aironi

Ospreys can't get Munster, Edinburgh and Aironi as their has to be a french and English team in each pool.

And if there r two french teams in the group 1 needs to b montpellier (the other needs to b top seeds)

Meh too confusing for this late at night, lets just see how it pans out.

AlynDavies wrote:Meh too confusing for this late at night, lets just see how it pans out.

Jasus man. If that is confusing, how the fock are you even going to make breakfast?

Oxford Welsh wrote:Cardiff tier 1 !! Guess everybody wants to drawn them.....

Something must be done about these seedings. Cardiff only got out of their group because they were in such a weak group last year, and then they couldn't win it! They are the third best Welsh team but have top seeding for Europe...........nonsense!

Tier 2 looks have stronger teams, the only team in Tier 1 you would relly want to avoid is Leinster, but in Tier 2 you have Clermont, Toulon, Harlequins and Leicester!!!!!!!

The draw for the 2012/2013 HC is being made next tuesday morning at 11am and is live on ercrugby.com

It really pees me off when people announce stuff or state stats and the you have to dig them up yourself:

http://www.ercrugby.com/eng/news/18352.php

Jenifer McLadyboy wrote:

AlynDavies wrote:Meh too confusing for this late at night, lets just see how it pans out.

Jasus man. If that is confusing, how the fock are you even going to make breakfast?

Oh it's easy I have sandwiches in work, and for my food shop every week I buy 7 chicken and mushroom pies, 7 tins of spagetti and 7 cartons of orange juice. Flip the pie over, cut the crust off, then cut it into 4 pieces, then pour the spagetti over the top of it, and put it in the microwave for 5 mins. Easy

Just noticed Leinster have a massive 40 point erc ranking after 3 titles and 1 semi final in 4 years. Toulouse in 2nd with 27!

It's fully deserved because Leinster have been the most consistent team in the HC ever. But what I don't like about the ranking system is that hypothetically, even if Leinster became utterly crap from now on, they'd remain a top seed for years due to previous performances. I don't think a HC win 4 seasons ago should have the same weight as a HC win last season.

Feckless Rogue wrote:Just noticed Leinster have a massive 40 point erc ranking after 3 titles and 1 semi final in 4 years. Toulouse in 2nd with 27!

It's fully deserved because Leinster have been the most consistent team in the HC ever. But what I don't like about the ranking system is that hypothetically, even if Leinster became utterly crap from now on, they'd remain a top seed for years due to previous performances. I don't think a HC win 4 seasons ago should have the same weight as a HC win last season.

As a Blues fan...

shhhhhhhhh

Draw takes place on tuesday 12th at the Aviva Stadium to officially launch the 2012/13 competition:

http://www.ercrugby.com/eng/news/18352.php