Heineken Cup Draw and Discussion. - Opening round fixtures announced.

Pool 1 - Leinster, Northampton Saints, Ospreys, Castres Olympique

Pool 2 - Toulon, Cardiff Blues, Glasgow Warriors, Exeter Chiefs

Pool 3 - Toulouse, Saracens, Connacht, Zebre

Pool 4 - Clermont Auvergne, Harlequins, Scarlets, Racing Metro 92

Pool 5 - Ulster, Leicester Tigers, Montpellier, Benetton Treviso

Pool 6 - Munster, Perpignan, Edinburgh, Gloucester

First round:- Commencing 11/10/2013

Pool 1:
Castres v Northampton Saints
Ospreys v Leinster

Pool 2:
Exeter Chiefs v Cardiff Blues
Toulon v Glasgow Warriors

Pool 3:
Connacht v Saracens
Toulouse v Zebre

Pool 4:
Quins v Scarlets
Racing Métro v ASM Clermont Auvergne

Pool 5:
Ulster v  Leicester Tigers
Treviso v Montpellier

Pool 6:
Edinburgh v Munster
Gloucester v Perpignan

http://www.ercrugby.com/eng/news/21719.php#.Ue0Qm43T_Tp

Made the same thread but yours is prettier with all the info so deleted it.

Looking forward to seeing this,hope Leinster avoid Leicester,Glasgow,the Ospreys and Racing Metro.

asoreleftshoulder wrote:Made the same thread but yours is prettier with all the info so deleted it.

Looking forward to seeing this,hope Leinster avoid Leicester,Glasgow,the Ospreys and Racing Metro.

Thread will be continuously updated as the draw is made.

Shane Horgan isn't very good at this.

Cardiff Blues -

Munster, Montpellier and Gloucester please

Notch wrote:Shane Horgan isn't very good at this.

Not very composed is he.

.

Good work, Dodger.

Watching the live feed: http://live.ercrugby.com/eng/player2.php

Apparently to be qualified to make the draw you have to have no hair whatsoever.

Great we get Toulon again

Ulster getting a tough group so far.

Hard group so far for us, perfect

Tough break for the Scarlets

Clermont again!

Leinster, Northampton and Ospreys

Ouch

Bugger we get the Ospreys

Welsh regions having a mare so far

Hello Cardiff. Warriors are coming for you!

Damn, I would have rathered Edinburgh than Glasgow!

It's going to be worse than last year

Musnter cant really complain!

Jesus, Pool 1 is stacked.

See you in Pool 2 Bluesman.

Bring it.

Now we get Gloucester or Exeter, neither are push overs

Why do we never get Zebre/Aironi

We get Exeter, the team that keeps running Leinster close!

4th in the pool it is...

Also, as a Blues fan, i am happy with our pool. Not suggesting we can win it. But we can get a good second place i recon.

Nice group for Munster!

Group 1 (Leinster, Northampton, Ospreys and Castres) is the group of death

Toulouse and Saracens have to like their odds of a 1/4

Pool 4 is pretty nasty too

Tough group for Ulster. Treviso have always caused us problems, Montpellier and Tigers quite tough.

That's about as hard a group as I can envision, should be great fun. Might try and go to an away game if I have the weekend free

Pool 6 is the easiest by far

wales606 wrote:Leinster, Northampton and Ospreys

Ouch

Yet another group o death! Hey ho....

Sarries literally stole our group from last year

Notch wrote:Tough group for Ulster. Treviso have always caused us problems, Montpellier and Tigers quite tough.

Could have been better could have been worse. I was really hoping we got Zebre as the draw was being made, when we didn't I had a horrible feeling we were going to get Racing, so Treviso is a relief in that sense. Still a tough group.

Sarries, Toulouse and Munster will be pretty happy at the moment

wales606 wrote:Sarries, Toulouse and Munster will be pretty happy at the moment

I think Toulon will be the most pleased of the tier 1 teams to be honest.

Questions will be asked if we don't get to the minimum of thw Quarter finals next year.

Artful_Dodger wrote:

wales606 wrote:Sarries, Toulouse and Munster will be pretty happy at the moment

I think Toulon will be the most pleased of the tier 1 teams to be honest.

Yep

Worst possible result for the Blues

If Edinburgh actually turn up this time around then pool 6 could be quite tasty.

Should be some beautiful, beautiful rugby in our group (4)

Thomond wrote:Questions will be asked if we don't get to the minimum of thw Quarter finals next year.

To be fair T, you should be aiming for a home QF as a minimum.

Sun in Toulon, in Glesgae, and points in Cardiff

Munster, Perpignan and Edinburgh for Glaws. That'll be a tough group to get out of!

But once again Glaws miss Treviso; I've been dying for an Italian away game for years

Very happy with that draw. Fancy our chances of home wins against Blues and Warriors. Wouldn't bet any money on away wins though. Think Toulon have it sewn up but the rest is very evenly macthed and should offer up some good matches!

Artful_Dodger wrote:

Notch wrote:Tough group for Ulster. Treviso have always caused us problems, Montpellier and Tigers quite tough.

Could have been better could have been worse. I was really hoping we got Zebre as the draw was being made, when we didn't I had a horrible feeling we were going to get Racing, so Treviso is a relief in that sense. Still a tough group.

Yeah, right at the end there I thought Treviso were in Pool 2 and we would have Racing. For me disappointed with the draw as I fancied playing someone different and we have had Treviso a lot recently and you guys in 11/12. Ulster and Leicester will have been disappointed with their away performances against each other - and will want to improve.

HongKongCherry wrote:Munster, Perpignan and Edinburgh for Glaws. That'll be a tough group to get out of!

But once again Glaws miss Treviso; I've been dying for an Italian away game for years

As you were both tier 4 sides, could not happen however.

What's the city of Clermont like?

Good point LT!

And no need to rub in the tier 4 part, sitting high up in your tier 2 status!

I am starting to think the end of the HEC may be a good thing, no more seeing the Scarlets getting pumped by all the other teams in the pool!

I think I would really love to be a Sarries or Toulouse fan right now.

difficult to predict where the 2nd best runner up will come from (assuming the 1st one will be either Toulouse or Saracens). shows how tougher this competition is becoming.

whocares wrote:difficult to predict where the 2nd best runner up will come from (assuming the 1st one will be either Toulouse or Saracens). shows how tougher this competition is becoming.

Yes - one of the two runners up will likely come from Pool 3 - Sarries or Toulouse will take advantage of games against Connacht and Zebre away from home, I would think. Then again, Connacht have shown that they are HC animals and have already made good signings this year. So who the feic knows?