OK folks, what are your thoughts?
Pool One: Munster, Edinburgh, Saracens, Racing Metro 92
A tough one this and anyone of them could win, though I'd make Saracens slight favourites here, with Munster going through a bit of change and Edinburgh perhaps not quite there yet - despite this years huge performance
Pool Two: Toulouse, Leicester, Ospreys, Benetton Treviso
Group of Death!!! What a nightmare group to be in, I'd fancy Toulouse here, but anyone of the first three could win the group and even the Cup
Pool Three: Biarritz, Harlequins, Connacht, Zebre
Seems like a nice draw for Quins and an opportunity for revenge against Connacht, I reckon Biarritz will also qualify as best runners up from this pool
Pool Four: Northampton, Ulster, Glasgow Warriors, Castres
Another tough one, perhaps Northampton (?) with changes at Ulster maybe knocking them out of their stride
Pool Five: Leinster, Clermont Auvergne, Scarlets, Exeter
Impossible to look past Leinster here, a possibility of a best runners up for Clermont if they can win at home against Leinster, I think Exeter might have a shock win in them at some stage
Pool Six: Cardiff Blues, Toulon, Sale, Montpellier
Maybe Toulon over the Blues, two tough trips to France for Cardiff and Sale, and I think Montpellier away was the only game Leinster didn't win (16 all draw?) in last years competition, so its no cake walk
Heineken Cup Draw
posted on 20/6/12
Hey SARS just back from my hols will leave you international tread alone until the weekend as i have missed most of it BUT NOT THE GANES
Just a few comments on the pools.
1, Munster can counter their lucky stars here, and be massively thankful that the HC seeding are a complicated equation which basically take the year previous to the past one and make it more important.... go figure... Hence the reason Leinster won their second HC from a group with 2 teams seeded higher last year.
Racing are alot of hype and cash and not much substance from what i see. Fair dues they play well in France. But dont travel. Edinburgh won't do much, they rode a wave this year and its come to an end. A brick wall to be fair they got destroyed in the end.
Pool 2: Can't argue. Toulouse pride themselves on being the Gran Daddies of the HC the and they wont like how it ended up last year so back for revenge I think.
Pool 3: Gona be Quins surly. Got to be Quins... but they showed that they were not quite ready for HC intensity last year. Their epic domestic final should have bolstered them and given that self belief. A mirror image of Leinster 4 years ago they could go all the way!
Four
Difficult for me to call this one. Ulster still lack some really good players in key positions, While the saints seem to have it all but the desire and are being captained by a tool (sorry)
Should be interesting.
Five:
Leinster. 6 from 6
Six
AWESOME POOL! Who the hell can call this one. Gona be great prices at the bookies! Can't see an easy game for any team here. Hell just out of pure reflex i would plump for Montpellier