The Draw

[Bullitt]

£10 says you're wrong.

 

[dullonien]

Done. lol

Why so sonfident? Ospreys only lost 6 (I think) matches throughout the entirety of last season, and that was with them playing s**t most the time. They should be alot better next season, especially if Hook plays 10 for the important matches and Henson get's back to form. Then there's the players like Gough, Phillips, Brew etc joining.

If they don't win everything I'll be surprised. Only teams I can see stopping them are Leicester, Stade Francais and Scarlets playing to the top of their potential.

btw I'm not an out and out O's fan, I support all Welsh Regions equally.

Edit. Ooops forgot to censor s**t.

 

[Bullitt]

You're forgetting that Gloucester were the league champions last year (******** to what anyone says about Leicester), are unbeatable at Kingsholm and have since strenghened somewhat already. They'll be serious contenders for next years HEC.

 

[Prestwick]

£10 says you're wrong. [/b]

I'll put down £10 pounds (of Webby's money) that says that Glaws will beat the Ospreys too.

 

[MunsterMan]

The system is flawed. Compare groups 1 and 4 to 5 and 6.
Group 5 has HEC Winners, Semi Finalists, Top 14 Finalists and Munster. Delighted to be underdogs, we rarely win as favourites. Based on current form Munster will be faveourite to come last so I'll hopefully get good odds on them to win it.

Leinster will be delighted to go to Toulouse again. Hopefully they can do what they did last time! They will get absolutely hammered by Tigers though, Won't see much ball.

 

[Bullitt]

People whinge about the grouping system every year when they get a tough group; Whenever and English, French and one other decent side are drawn together, there's always someone crying foul play. It's just the luck of the draw.

If anything, it should make the tournament more interesting this year as it's faar more balenced in the group stage then ever over recent years, so there shouldn't be anyone getting through to the next round "by default" as we have previously seen (such as last year).

 

[getofmeland]

<div class='quotemain'>
Also...I'm still not quite sure how 'Quins and Irish got into the HEC... :huh: [/b]

By finishing higher than Northampton, Bath, Newcastle, Worcester and Sale - or would you suggest two of these teams should be in the HEC to make up the 7 places England has instead?? [/b][/quote]

Bath Should be there!!!

You're forgetting that Gloucester were the league champions last year (******** to what anyone says about Leicester), are unbeatable at Kingsholm and have since strenghened somewhat already. They'll be serious contenders for next years HEC. [/b]

As Bath fan I would have to say I somewhat agree with that however its going to be a great* game of Rugby...


* Should be on terms of the quality of both sides.

 

[DonBilly]

<div class='quotemain'> Pool 1
Benetton Treviso, London Irish, USA Perpignan, Newport Gwent Dragons

Pool 2
Ospreys, Gloucester Rugby, Bourgoin, Ulster Rugby

Pool 3
Stade Francais Paris, Bristol Rugby, Cardiff Blues, Harlequins

Pool 4
Glasgow Warriors, Saracens, Biarritz Olympique, Viadana

Pool 5
London Wasps, Clermont Auvernge, Llanelli Scarlets, Munster

Pool 6
Leinster, Leicester Tigers, Toulouse, Edinburgh Rugby

Apparently.
And I'm chuffed to bits, pools of death for 5 & 6 though.....
[/b]

I'm not too disappointed with Pool 3 either - certainly better deal than ending up in pool 5 or 6!

[/b][/quote]



Well it depends on wether you target the first or the second rank in this pool 3 but for sure these pools 5 and 6 are really tough.

 

[shazbooger]

Pool 5
London Wasps, Clermont Auvernge, Llanelli Scarlets, Munster

Pool 6
Leinster, Leicester Tigers, Toulouse, Edinburgh Rugby
[/b]

Ouch fookin ouch ouch ouch. There are going to be some mammoth matches in these groups. Leinster, if the carry on in the same way they finished last year will not get out of the group. They have made a couple of changes in the pack for this year, but not enough for my liking.

Munster on the other hand, well its really a matter of which two teams can get the results away from home. A complete lottery there in pool 5, but every week will bring a good series of games.

 

[Cymrurugbyfan]

Pool 5 and 6 ...... :mellow:

chuffed to bits wif the draw for the ospreys

[/b]

Yup congrats, can't wait to meet (and beat) you in the knockout stages

 

[An Tarbh]

Not quite the uber group of death for Leinster that it is in pool 5 but a tough one nonetheless, nobody to fear yet all teams are capable of turning each other over, can't see Leinster losing any of the home games and if Toulouse defend like they did last season then that should be an away win for both Leinster and Leicester, whoever gets the away win in Edinburgh should top the pool, can only see Edinburgh losing 1 game at the most.

 

[shazbooger]

People whinge about the grouping system every year when they get a tough group; Whenever and English, French and one other decent side are drawn together, there's always someone crying foul play. It's just the luck of the draw.[/b]

Yeah your right. Problem from an Irish point of view is that Leinster and Munster effectively have to top their groups to get into the quarters. Those groups are going to be so close that I cant see any of the runners up anywhere close to qualifying. A lot of big teams are on their way out quite early on in the competition.

Pool 5 will be seriously close. I have a sneaky suspicion that the French wont be too competitive (by choice), and by the time they decide to turn up it will be too late for them. That will rule out Clermont. That leaves Wasps, The Scarlets and Munster. It sounds daft, but at this stage I'm kinda leaning towards the Scarlets to get out but it will be damned close.

Pool 6. Toulouse are notoriously slow starters and Leinster simply dont have a pack anywhere close to being competitive with either of the other major players. If they play the whole competition I'd say Toulouse to go through, but I dont think they will so it'll probably be Leicster.

 

[olaf]

I think Toulouse won't we an easy team to play. During the second part of the top 14 they were quite impressive. In fact a key point could be how they will deal with their players who will have participated to the world cup. With the world cup, the 6 nation tournament, the Hcup and the top 14, there will be quite a lot of matches next season and they will have quite a lot of players that will be part of al these competitions.

 

[MunsterMan]

You have to be careful against Edinburgh because Patterson can be freakishly acurate at times and they will have Larkham too. I can't see Leinster losing to anybody apart from Tigers at home (Where is your HEC home ground next year?) and they should hopefully beat Edinburgh in both legs.

I fancy Munster to win all their home games and beat Scarlets and Clermont away and take at least a losing bonus point from Wasps in London (Hopefully we should have more support than them there!).

 

[Bullitt]

Playing against Wasps in London?

That's a first.

 

[Cymrurugbyfan]

I fancy Munster to win all their home games and beat Scarlets and Clermont away and take at least a losing bonus point from Wasps in London (Hopefully we should have more support than them there!). [/b]

That's a lot of wishful thinking :huh:

I can't imagine any team in this pool winning more than four games (Clermont will be the whipping boys and lose every game).

 

[Darhf]

I don't see Vern Cotter sacrificing his team for the HCup. He even played the Challenge Cup fully while other french teams had a rest.

IMO Clermont will reach the finals.

 

[MunsterMan]

Playing Wasps Near London if you must

A lot of our players have been waiting for revenge against Wasps for a while now and the QF in Stradey :wall:

 

[loratadine]

teh mite speaks ********!! jst ignore him

hes a racist vile little man!!

the ospreys will be the team to beat next year, theyve got stacks and stacks of talent, and are recruting all the time!!

 

[shtove]

Whoever wins group 5 should be crowned the winner of the tournament.

Same with group D in the RWC.