Heineken Cup Draw - Tues 09th June - Discussion here please

[thebearisstilldeano]

Can anyone tell me what tier Wasps are in next HC?

[pacificleicesterer]

there ranked 7th in europe therefore in tier 2

[Bill W]

there ranked 7th in europe therefore in tier 2

Oh dear!

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They are full of tears 'cos they did not qualify!

[upthecats]

there ranked 7th in europe therefore in tier 2

Oh dear!

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They are full of tears 'cos they did not qualify!

Stop your killing me

[Bill W]

Stop your killing me

The HC next year will be insect free!!!

[Tyler]

Stop your killing me

The HC next year will be insect free!!!

There is a God and his name is JUSTICE !
KEEPING THE FAITH, paid off eh Bill?

[POSTIGER]

Not another group with the Ospreys in it, please!

Cardiff are a little unlucky not to have forced their way into tier 1 IMHO. I appreciate that it is based on form in the HC over a long period of time but their form last season should have propelled them into the top tier at the expense of Bath or Biarritz who won diddly last season.

[redtiger]

i'd take stade, the dragons and treviso out of that little lot, booze up in Paris, watch the dragons on telly and a nice trip to italy if i can save hard enough.

[Tigerbeat]

The Heineken Cup Pool draw takes place on Tuesday (11am) with live coverage on ercrugby.com. Follow every step in the process with ercrugby.com's guide to the draw.
Heineken Cup 2009/10 Teams and Tiers
TIER 1
Munster, Leicester Tigers, Leinster, Toulouse, Bath Rugby, Biarritz Olympique Pays Basque
TIER 2
Cardiff Blues, Stade Français Paris, Gloucester Rugby, Perpignan, Ospreys, London Irish
TIER 3
Northampton Saints, Sale Sharks, ASM Clermont Auvergne, Scarlets, Ulster Rugby, Newport Gwent Dragons
TIER 4
Harlequins, Glasgow Warriors, Edinburgh, Benetton Treviso, Brive, Viadana


Heineken Cup Pool Draw Format

Key Principles
• For the purpose of the draw the 24 qualified teams are ranked based on their ERC European rankings and are divided into four Tiers. Rankings are based on European performance over the past four seasons in the Heineken Cup and knock-out stages of the European Challenge Cup.

• Each Pool will have one team from each of the four Tier levels.

• No two teams from the same country will be drawn in the same Pool except for the seventh club from England (Harlequins based on European Ranking) which will be drawn into a Pool with another English team.

• The winner of the Heineken Cup will be seeded in the first Tier and will be drawn into a Pool first.

Draw Format
• The draw will have four stages starting with the allocation of six teams from Tier 1 and then moving to the next Tier.

• Allocation of Tier 1 - The Number 1 ranked team (Leinster Heineken Cup champions) will be drawn into one of the six Pools. The remaining five top Tier teams will then be drawn into the five Pool spots left available.

• For the Allocation of Tier 2, 3 and 4, the teams will be drawn starting with the teams from the country with the highest number of teams participating in the tournament England.
Therefore the order of allocation in each Tier will be teams from England, France, Wales, Ireland, Scotland and Italy until all teams in the Tier have been drawn.

Note as Scotland and Italy both have two teams competing, the Scottish teams will be drawn first as they are ranked higher than either Italian side.

• During each Tier allocation a team will be drawn and then a Pool number for that team from the available Pool options.

• In Tier 4 the seventh English team (Harlequins based on ranking) will be drawn into the Pools last.

• To avoid having two teams from the same country in the same Pool, some teams may be allocated to available Pool spots automatically during the course of the Draw.

Overall ERC European Rankings are available on www.ercrugby.com/europeanranking

[captain_insaino]

I bet we draw brive!!! But seriously, i don't know how Cardiff arent in tier 1 in preference, but that ranking system works on history when it should just be decided on who the best teams are IMO.

[dailywaffle]

I bet we draw brive!!! But seriously, i don't know how Cardiff arent in tier 1 in preference, but that ranking system works on history when it should just be decided on who the best teams are IMO.

Who judges on, and how, the best teams? One can argue whether or not the ranking system used is fair (I favour three years rather than four, or maybe 3 plus domestic position), but its a darn sight better that what we used to have.

Anyhow, my 'just for fun' draw:
A - BOPB, Irish, Ulster, Viadana
B - Munster, USAP, Saints, Treviso
C - Leinster, Glaws, Dragons, Brive
D - Bath, Stade Fr., Scarlets, Glasgow
E - Leicester, Cardiff, ASM, Edinburgh ........ ouch.
F - Toulouse, Ospreys, Sale, Harlequins

There is a reasonable chance of drawing Brive. We'd need to get Cardiff or Ospreys in tier 2 and then Ulster in tier 3. Brive would then be an automatic tier 4 selection.

[Ben the Tiger]

The thing is I can see us getting the pool that dailywaffle has predicted now that really really would be painful!

[Ben the Tiger]

10 minutes to go and they're playing the music to the Pirates of the Carribean I think? Can anyone else confirm that it is that music?

I am actually nervous, I have never watched it live before! GULP!

[dailywaffle]

If its any consolation, due to the format of the draw we are more likely to have a French tier 2 team, thus avoiding ASM Clermont from tier 3.
All tier 2 teams are tricky, its really a case of hoping we don't draw the joker from tier 3.

[dailywaffle]

10 minutes to go and they're playing the music to the Pirates of the Carribean I think? Can anyone else confirm that it is that music?

Yep.