European Rugby Champions Cup

[simonokeeffe]

Pool 1: Racing, Glasgow, Leicester, MUNSTER

Pool 2: CONNACHT, Wasps, Toulouse, Zebre

Pool 3: Saracens, Toulon, Scarlets, Sale

Pool 4: LEINSTER, Montpellier, Northampton, Castres

Pool 5: Exeter, Clermont, ULSTER, Bordeaux

[macboomba]

D'oh!

Would have preferred Zebre. But not a bad draw over all.

[jimbobjoe]

Tough enough draw but I'm confident. Looking forward to a spin to Montpelier!

[simonokeeffe]

Our draw could have been worse, as ever you want Castres away in round 5 or 6 when theyre done giving a poop
Montpelier, sure we have practice now playing South Africans

Ulster have gotten a great draw, Connacht in with a shout of a best runners up especially if Wasps win in France
Sarries & Toulon get top seed and best runners up guaranteed

[wixfjord]

Not a bad old draw at all. Each of those sides should be beatable away. Tough one for Munster.

[FLIP]

Northampton is handy enough for me. Shame we didn't get Exeter though - best away game I've ever gone to.

[jimbobjoe]

[simonokeeffe]

Wasps, Saracens, Racing, Northampton, Ulster
Toulon, Connacht, Clermont

Leinster and Munster to finish second but not go through

Sarries/Toulon bit of a toss up, same with Montpellier/Saints but again the fixture list in our group will be all important

[jimbobjoe]

When are the fixtures announced?

[leinsterfan100]

When are the fixtures announced?

Last year it was the middle of August. Should be earlier than that this year thoughi presume with the competition starting a month earlier...

[jimbobjoe]

When are the fixtures announced?

Last year it was the middle of August. Should be earlier than that this year thoughi presume with the competition starting a month earlier...

Thanks! plenty of time then to look into travel etc

[offshorerules]

Not a bad draw for us really. Depends when we get Castres I think. Please for the westies that they got Zebre and Munster paying for their lack of form this year with a tough enough pool.

[curates_egg]

We're not going to win anything next season, so the least I was hoping for was an away trip somewhere new: Bordeaux and Zebre were top of my list.
Admittedly, I thoroughly enjoyed my last trip to Northampton, but it's a hole and I imagine the Irish-hating racists will now feel empowered to come out from under their rocks and abuse anyone with an accent.
I also enjoyed my trip to Montpellier and thought the atmosphere was very good (particularly at the end)...but don't need to go back. Any chance they'll host it in Cape Town in December?
I have yet to find Castres on a map, despite us playing there two or three times already.

[Fireworks]

Could have been much worse. At this stage we have to stay optimistic.

[jezzer]

Not the worst by any means. Couple of nice away trips too. Will come down to how seriously Montpellier take it I guess.

[simonokeeffe]

Not the worst by any means. Couple of nice away trips too. Will come down to how seriously Montpellier take it I guess.

theyre full of gurriers so we want a good ref for that one, optimistic view is Saints/Montpellier beat the cr@p out of each other

cynical view is without Madigan we're even more prone to assassination tactics from Johnny as both their coaches are morally flexible

[domhnallj]

Perhaps when the fixtures are announced we could block buy in section C at Northampton like last time? It was tremendous fun (apart from one well known poster's digestive problems)

[COYBIB]

I'll take that group. Cullen has got us into the position of being a top seed, now he needs to follow it up. This will be a telling season, one way or the other. I really hope it works out.

[Blue not red blood]

Quick question
How many points did the second teams qualify with last season

[simonokeeffe]

Quick question
How many points did the second teams qualify with last season

Toulon 20
Saints 19
Stade 19