HEINEKEN CUP POOL GUIDE
POOL 1 (Munster, Castres Olympique, Sale Sharks, Dragons)
Munster will break new ground by meeting Sale Sharks for the first time in the Heineken Cup in Round 1 in a game that will see Lions outside halves Charlie Hodgson and Ronan O’Gara shoot it out with their goalkicking. Munster will return to Rodney Parade in Round 3 to meet the Dragons. They were 39-24 winners there against Newport in the 2000/01 season and will meet the Dragons back to back in December. New Dragons coach Paul Turner will meet up with one of his former clubs Sale Sharks on home turf in Round 2.Â
POOL 2 (Rugby Calvisano, Perpignan, Leeds Tykes, Blues)
Italian champions Calvisano will be pleased to see the back of Leicester Tigers having met them three times in the past four seasons. The other English club they have met were London Wasps. They clash with Leeds Tykes this time, travelling to Headingley in Round 2. The Tykes kick-off with a trip to Cardiff to meet the Blues, where their coach Phil Davies will go head-to-head with his former Welsh team mate Dai Young. Perpignan will meet the Blues for the first time in Round 3 and will return to the Arms Park in Round 4.Â
POOL 3 (Ospreys, Stade Francais Paris, Leicester Tigers, Clermont Auvergne)
December will be a lively month in Pool 3 with back to back clashes between the two French clubs ASM Clermont Auvergne and Stade Francais Paris and games between Celtic League champions the Ospreys and Leicester Tigers. The Ospreys kick-off with a home tie with Stade before travelling to Clermont Auvergne.
POOL 4 (Biarritz Olympique Pays Basque, Saracens, Ulster, Benetton Treviso)
Saracens return to the top flight of European competition for the first time since the 200/01 season and find themselves back with some familiar faces in Ulster. They managed two victories over the Irish side in that season and will be hoping for a similar return when the two teams go head-to-head once again in December. French champions Biarritz kick-off at Vicarage Road against the English club and will be wary of the Ulster challenge having met them in 2002/03, when they were beaten at Ravenhill and ran out 25-20 winners at home. Benetton Treviso were in the same Pool at Ulster in 2001/02 and will be hoping for a better start in Belfast than their 59-3 defeat there on their last visit.
POOL 5 (Glasgow Warriors, Bourgoin, Bath, Leinster)
Three of the teams in this Pool were together last season – Bath, Bourgoin and Leinster – while Glasgow Warriors met Bourgoin in 2002/03 and Leinster in 1999/00. Bourgoin, who will be seeking to improve on their recent record of 11 defeats in their last 12 Heineken Cup outings, kick-off at home against the Warriors and then meet Leinster in the back-to-back matches in December.
POOL 6Â (London Wasps, Toulouse, Scarlets, Edinburgh Rugby)
Reigning champions Toulouse will have home advantage over the Scarlets in Round 1 before heading to London to settle a score with the English champions London Wasps. Lawrence Dallaglio’s side pipped Toulouse 27-20 in the 2004 Heineken Cup final at Twickenham and inflicted the French side’s highest defeat in their first meeting on English soil, 77-17, way back in the 1996/97 competition. Wasps and the Scarlets will meet in the back-to-back fixtures in December, while Edinburgh will meet Toulouse twice in a fortnight when the cup holders return to the city and venue at which they became the first team to win the title three times.
