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2011/2012 Groups

Teh Mite

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Northampton
Get announced next week.

Who'd you want? Who'd you like? Will the ERC "screw the French and the Irish" again? Will the English all have easy groups again? Who will humiliate Connaught the most?
 
If they had this years team they'd actually do quite well. They're better than the Italian teams and probably the Dragons. Unfortunately they're losing Cronin, Hagan, Keatley and Carr. Thats their main man in the scrum. Most important ballcarrier. Top scorer and top try scorer. With their lack of strength in depth that's hard. At least they still have Muldoon.
 
Looking at the seeding, the best pool the Ospreys could get would be:

Biarritz
Ospreys
Glasgow
Aironi

Although it'll no doubt be:

Toulose (Nice change from Munster and the Tigers)
Ospreys
Saracens
Montpellier
 
If they had this years team they'd actually do quite well. They're better than the Italian teams and probably the Dragons. Unfortunately they're losing Cronin, Hagan, Keatley and Carr. Thats their main man in the scrum. Most important ballcarrier. Top scorer and top try scorer. With their lack of strength in depth that's hard. At least they still have Muldoon.
and johnny O'Concrete but despite there lack of good players im really interested in how they do
 
Who will humiliate Connaught the most?

Please don't be so ignorant. We may not possess an enormous squad or be rolling in cash, but were as good as any Scottish or Italian side in the competition and wouldn't be far off the Dragons in terms of skill level. We certainly won't be heading to Twickenham for any big European final next season, but don't be surprised if Connacht manage to overturn the likes of Biarritz, Racing Metro or Northampton in the Sportsground.
 
I agree completely the sportsground on a wet windy winters evening will not be a nice place to play and anything could happen. But Connacht away from home vs Toulouse/Leicester etc... They could easily get 50 points put on them.
 
Thanks cmac. It's probable that Connacht are going to take a beating at some stage during the tournament, but people are forever refusing to give us any respect at all. Our preformances have improved dramatically over the past couple of years and were regularly putting in big games against teams like Leinster and Munster in the Magners League.

Last season we finished with a negative points difference of 205. This season we've managed to cut that by 156 points to a negative 49. Connacht talismans like Gavin Duffy, John Muldoon and Johnny O'Connor have been playing consistently well for a few seasons now but have been largely ignored by Irish selectors. The devastating quartet of Carr, Cronin, Hagan and Keatley (Who I realize are all moving on to newer pastures) who have been instrumental to Connacht's revival has only amassed fourteen Irish caps between them. Brett Wilkinson who is far superior to the likes of Tom Court has also been ignored. We also have an excellent crop of players emerging from our academy at the moment and players like Eoin Griffin and Eoin McKeon have already showed what their capable of.

Connacht can cause a major upset in next season's Heineken Cup.
 
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There are also 12 new players coming into the side next year if im not mistaken. the problem is that young talented players from other provinces go to connacht for game time for a few years then when their potential begins to show they get snapped up by other teams
 
To be fair I would be very surprised if Leinster got such a hard group next year because no one can deny that last year Leinster had a much harder group than the likes of Northampton and Toulouse.
 
Racing Metro in Pool4. With the experience they gained this year+the squad they'll have next year, it's going to hurt.
 
Here is the pots which the teams will be drawn from (ERC ranking in brackets)

  • Each pool will have 1 team from each pot
  • No pool can have more than 1 side from the same nation
  • Apart from the nation with 7 qualified teams, which in this case is England, so there will be 1 pool with 2 English teams



The hardest possible pool:
Leinster / Leicester / Saracens / Racing-Métro

whichever team gets Racing-Métro as the team from Pot 4 will be p*ssed off

The easiest possible pool:
Cardiff Blues / London Irish / Glasgow / Aironi
Must be a French team in each pool.

From a Leinster perspective I'd like:
Leinster
Quins
Glasgow
Montpellier
 
i expect munster to do decently next year cos i feel they've worked some young players up to first team level but im not expecting more than a quarter final depending on the pool they get
 
Here is the pots which the teams will be drawn from (ERC ranking in brackets)

  • Each pool will have 1 team from each pot
  • No pool can have more than 1 side from the same nation
  • Apart from the nation with 7 qualified teams, which in this case is England, so there will be 1 pool with 2 English teams



The hardest possible pool:
Leinster / Leicester / Saracens / Racing-Métro

whichever team gets Racing-Métro as the team from Pot 4 will be p*ssed off

The easiest possible pool:
Cardiff Blues / London Irish / Glasgow / Aironi
Urm ... slightly wrong

TIERS FOR HEINEKEN CUP 2011 / 2012 POOL DRAW

Leinster, the Heineken Cup champions, will be the first club allocated a Pool for the 2011 / 2012 tournament when the draw for the composition of the six Pools of four clubs each for the 17th tournament takes place at Twickenham Stadium on Tuesday, 7 June.

Leinster are also top of the ERC European Rankings, which determine the tiers of the clubs who have qualified for European club rugby's premier competition, and are joined in Tier 1 by three other Heineken Cup winners in Toulouse, Munster and Leicester Tigers.

Cardiff Blues and Biarritz Olympique, both former Heineken Cup finalists, complete the top group of six.

Once the Tier 1 clubs have each been allocated a different Pool no club from the same Tier will be drawn in the same Pool and no Pool will have more than one club from the same country with the exception of England, as there are seven English teams.

The draw will launch the countdown to a tournament which will climax at Twickenham Stadium on the weekend of 19 / 20 May, 2012, with the 17th Heineken Cup final.

CLUBS AND TIERS

TIER 1 – Leinster, Toulouse, Munster, Cardiff Blues, Biarritz Olympique, Leicester Tigers
TIER 2 – Northampton Saints, ASM Clermont Auvergne, Ospreys, Bath Rugby, Harlequins, London Irish
TIER 3 – Ulster Rugby, Saracens, Gloucester Rugby, Glasgow Warriors, Scarlets, Edinburgh
TIER 4 – Connacht Rugby, Benetton Treviso, Castres Olympique, Montpellier, Racing Metro 92, Aironi Rugby
 
I'm quite confused as to why the majority of people here seem to be viewing Montpelier as the weakest french team.
They're finalists this season and have looked really dangerous. Certainly more-so than Castres and in patches more than Racing and Clermont as well.
 
I want Montpellier in Leinster's group, not because I underrate them but because it would be a nice away trip to a venue I haven't been in before.
 
It is obvious 2 Irish provinces will get the hardest Groups - Wish it was possible that we could draw Connacht :(
 
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