At present Leinster, Wasps and Bath are joint 6th on 18 points, with Bath losing out to the other two by virtue of a year in the ECC recently, and the Wasps-Leinster tie being split on the basis of them doing better in 2007 than we did. That put Wasps as a top 6 seed and therefore avoiding any of the 'top' teams
At present Biarritz are a 3rd seed on 24 points. However they are going to drop to 20 or 19 points this year as they can't win their group. Similarly Stade Francais (currently on 20) are likely to drop - they're unlikely to qualify if they don't get 10 points in their next two games which will probably see them drop to 14 points. However I wouldn't rule them out to get those 10 points, in which case they're right back in the mix.
Bath are quite likely to climb - they only need to finish second to stay on 18 points. Wasps only need to finish third and you have to think they'll finish at least second (therefore going to 19 points).
Leinster, OTOH, need at least 5 points (i.e. at least a QF) to hold our ranking at 18. If we win tomorrow though we'd be guaranteed that, and simultaneously cap Wasps at 19 points (even if they win in Castres)
So, if we're to become a top seed, we're going to need a semi final this year. And if we want to stay there, we'll probably need at least that again next year
Here is the table
Code: Select all
Rank Team Name Total Points Pts 2007-2008 Pts 2006-2007 Pts 2005-2006 Pts 2004-2005
1 Munster 32 11 5 11 5
2 Toulouse 28 9 3 5 11
3 Biarritz Olympique Pays Basque 24 3 5 9 7
4 Leicester Tigers 22 3 8 5 6
5 Stade Francais Paris 20 3 5 3 9
6 London Wasps 18 2 11 3 2
7 Leinster 18 2 5 6 5
8 Bath Rugby 18 5 3 7 3
9 Gloucester Rugby 15 5 2 5 3
10 Perpignan 15 4 3 5 3
11 Saracens 13 7 2 3 1
12 Sale Sharks 13 2 2 4 5