Euro elite awaiting Heineken draw

[Hoof Hearted]

 
The Heineken Cup will be seeded for the first time when the pools are drawn in Dublin on Tuesday.

The 24 teams are split into four tiers based on performance over the past four seasons in the Heineken Cup and the knock-out stages of the Challenge Cup.

Teams from the same country will be kept apart, although there will be two French teams in one of the six pools.

Munster, Toulouse, Biarritz Olympique, Leicester Tigers, Stade Français Paris and London Wasps are the top seeds.

Holders Munster are ranked first and will be the first team out of the hat in Dublin.

Montauban became the final team to secure their qualification last weekend, joining Clermont Auvergne, Toulouse, Stade Francais, Perpignan, Castres and Biarritz in a seven-strong French contingent.



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Tier One seeds: Munster, Toulouse, Biarritz Olympique, Leicester Tigers, Stade Français Paris, London Wasps
Tier Two seeds: Leinster, Bath Rugby, Gloucester Rugby, Perpignan, Sale Sharks, Llanelli Scarlets
Tier Three seeds: Ospreys, Cardiff Blues, ASM Clermont Auvergne, Newport Gwent Dragons, Ulster Rugby, Castres Olympique
Tier Four seeds: Glasgow Warriors, Benetton Treviso, Edinburgh, Rugby Calvisano, Harlequins, Montauban

Round One: 10-12 October

Round Two: 17-19 October

Round Three: 5-7 December

Round Four: 12-14 December

Round Five: 16-18 January

Round Six: 23-25 January

Quarter-finals: 10-12 April

Semi-finals: 1-3 May

Final: 22-24 May (Murrayfield)

*Fixtures, dates and times are subject to late change

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although seeded there is still some possible tough groups
for munster, gloucester, ospreys and edinburgh would be tough
for leinster, toulouse, clermont and harlequins ?
for ulster, leicester, bath and montauban ?


watch live here
http://www.ercrugby.com/eng/6165_10465.php

[Uladh]

Maybe i'm bing harsh here but the ulster branch are lucky to be third seeds

[screenexile]

Is it something to do with the fact Munster are so strong in the competition that the 3 Irish teams are rated highly whereas the Scottish teams are all in the fourth tier because they're ket?

In fairness though Cardiff and Osprey's would wipe them on last year's form!

[Hoof Hearted]

Pool One: Munster, Sale, Clermont, Montauban.
Pool Two: London Wasps, Leinster, Castres, Edinburgh.
Pool Three: Leicester Tigers, Perpignan, Ospreys, Treviso.
Pool Four: Stade Francais, Llanelli, Ulster, Harlequins.
Pool Five: Toulouse, Bath, Newport-Gwent Dragons, Glasgow.
Pool Six: Biarritz, Gloucester, Cardiff Blues, Calvisano.

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two trips to france for munster
leinster get their bogey team edinburgh
ulster will find it hard to get any away wins

[Lecale2]

All of those groups look very tight. That's the great thing about this competition.

[Main Street]

Tough on Leinster to get Edinburgh again, they are strong 4th seeds.
Leinster will probably have to get 10 points out of them in order to go through.