A look at the six pools of the 2008/09 European Cup
POOL ONE
Munster Sale Clermont Montauban
Who's got 'previous'?
Nobody has the pedigree of Munster. Seeking to extend their record of nine successive appearances in the knock-out stages, and two titles in the last three years.
Sale have consistently flattered to deceive, reaching one quarter-final in four attempts, and return after reaching the Challenge Cup semi-finals last year.
Clermont were the best team not to make the knock-out stages last season (the third time in a row), while Montauban are the tournament's sole debutants.
So who or what's new then?
Despite some notable retirements, Munster's new coaching ticket have made a seamless transition so far, with Auckland Blues number eight Nick Williams due to arrive for round three in December.
Clermont remain largely unchanged, though they have lost Vilmoni Delasau, their sidestepping Fijian sensation to Montauban, who have strengthened since last season's seventh-place domestic finish.
Sale lost virtually a whole team in the summer but have recruited Dwayne Peel and Matthew Tait.
How have they been going this season?
Munster go into this weekend as the only unbeaten team in the Magners League, buoyed by the significant scalp of Leinster.
Clermont have won three at home and lost three away in a patchy start, but gave note of a return to their best with a 32-6 thumping of Castres last week, while Montauban (though unsettled by financial difficulties) have also won three from six.
Sale were the Scrooges of the English Premiership in September, not conceding a try, before being routed by London Irish in midweek, but have scored only two tries in five games.
The matches likely to touch parts only the Heineken Cup could reach?
No one point did more to earn Munster a second cup than the bonus point away to Clermont last season, and there's bound to be a whiff of cordite when they return to Stade Marcel Michelin in December. That game, and the rematch in Thomond six days later, could provide the key to the pool.
How the pool might ultimately shape up?
Notwithstanding their top seeding, this is as tough a pool as Munster have had, with two French sides and the early English pacesetters.
Despite signs that teams are working out Clermont's wide-wide game, Vern Cotter has recently signed a new contract extension.
It was an epic struggle to edge out Clermont last season and it could be again.
POOL TWO
Wasps Leinster Castres Edinburgh
Who's got 'previous'?
London Wasps are one of only four clubs to have won the cup twice, though in five of their last seven campaigns they've failed to progress beyond their pool.
Leinster, ranked one place below them in seventh, reached the knock-out stages in five out of six years prior to last season, but still await their first final.
Castres have reached the last eight in one of five attempts and Edinburgh once in 11 campaigns.
So who or what's new then?
Isa Nacewa's impact will have to wait until the third round in December, but Rocky Elsom and CJ van der Linde complete top-notch summer recruitments to replace Ollie le Roux and Keith Gleeson at Leinster.
Wasps have lost Lawrence Dallaglio and Fraser Waters, while recruiting the venerable Serge Betsen and Mark Robinson. Ex-Hurricanes and All Blacks openside Chris Masoe is the most notable recruit at Castres. Edinburgh are little-changed, re-signing Chris Paterson.
How have they been going this season?
Despite Leinster's first defeat of the season at home to Munster, theirs has been the best form.
Jeremy Staunton having kicked Wasps to victory at Leicester, Danny Cipriani's much trumpeted return coincided with a fourth defeat in five games to leave them 10th in their league.
Castres have fared even worse, one win (at home to Clermont) in five games leaving them 13th in the Top 14, while an injury-disrupted Edinburgh have just one handsome home win over Llanelli from four games.
The matches likely to touch parts only the Heineken Cup could reach?
First up Leinster travel to their Murrayfield graveyard, where they have lost eight times in nine visits.
It could once again be a season-defining game - though Wasps at home in round two and away in round five ultimately look like decisive ties.
How the pool might ultimately shape up?
It all hinges, again, on Leinster's trek to Murrayfield. Victory there followed by a home win against Wasps would set them up nicely.
With Nacewa and Gordon D'Arcy, hopefully, back by December they should grow stronger.
Wasps' early-season travails ought, if anything, only stiffen the resolve of the two-time champions, for whom trophy hunting is their raison d'ètre, but life without the force of nature that was Dallaglio is proving predictably tricky.
It could be both Leinster and Wasps will qualify.
POOL THREE
Leicester Perpignan Ospreys Treviso
Who's got 'previous'?
Leicester are the English standard-bearers, with two wins from four finals and qualification eight out of 11 times for the knock-out rounds.
USA Perpignan, with one final and three other appearances in the latter stages from eight attempts, have lost 17 times out of 28 on their travels.
The Ospreys shot themselves in the foot in last season's quarters at Saracens, their first appearance at that stage in five attempts.
Treviso aren't even the relative force they were, with just one win (at home to the Dragons) amid 17 defeats in the last three years.
So who or what's new then?
Some bloke by the name of Dan Carter is pitching up at Perpignan. Under new coach Heyneke Meyer, the Tigers have sought to move their game on, with Toby Flood arriving from Newcastle to replace the departed (to Brive) Andy Goode. The trimmed-down Ospreys have seen Justin Marshall's replacement Jamie Nutbrown join Mike Phillips on the casualty list, while Tommy Bowe is cutting it among their stars.
Wasps' underrated former England centre Fraser Waters, financially independent of rugby and seeking a new challenge, has pitched up in Treviso.
How have they been going this season?
Leicester, with four wins from five, lie second in the Premiership without really having taken off. The Ospreys lead the Magners League with the same record and save for scrumhalf are inching back to full strength.
Perpignan have won four from six to lie fifth in France but came up short against Stade and Toulouse.
Treviso lie second in Italy's Super 10 after last week's 20-14 victory at Viadana gave them three wins from three.
The matches likely to touch parts only the Heineken Cup could reach?
The Ospreys' trek to Welford Road next Sunday has all the trappings of a classic Anglo-Welsh rumble, though it will be topped if the two are fighting over top spot at the Liberty Stadium on the final weekend.
How the pool might ultimately shape up?
This could be the spiciest pool, recalling Perpignan's feisty run-ins with Welsh and English teams in the past, especially in Catalonia, not to mention the heavyweight Anglo-Welsh rivalry.
It's time for the Ospreys to deliver and if they have a whiff of it come the last weekend, they could do so.
Treviso?
Lambs.
Slaughter.
POOL FOUR
S Français Scarlets Ulster Harlequins
Who's got 'previous'?
The Scarlets are the ones with Euro form, last season's blank a relative blip after eight qualifications for the knock-out stages from 11 previous attempts.
Stade, with two losing finals and their array of globetrotters, are the biggest club never to have won the Heineken Cup and have failed to qualify for the last eight three years running.
Ulster have failed to reach that stage nine years running since winning the Cup in 1999 and Harlequins haven't reached the last eight in their last four attempts, failing to even win one match in their last two campaigns.
So who or what's new then?
Under a new coaching ticket headed by Ewen McKenzie, Stade have recruited the hugely regarded ex-Kangaroos rugby league star Mark Gasnier to sharpen their attacking edge out wide as well as Juan Martin Leguizamon.
Harlequins' signing of All Blacks and Auckland Blues outhalf Nick Evans was quite a coup, while the Scarlets have replaced Dwayne Peel and Alix Popham with Sililo Martens and David Lyons.
Ulster have been hit by an exodus of wild-geese proportions, and Springboks prop BJ Botha and Australian fullback Clifton Schifcofske have been Matt Williams's most notable signings.
How have they been going this season?
Rejuvenated under McKenzie, who is rotating Juan Hernandez and Lionel Bauxis between 10 and 15, and with their big guns fresher after last season's post-RWC fatigue, Stade are setting the pace domestically with six wins from six.
Quins started brightly with wins over Saracens and Bristol before losing to Gloucester and London Irish, while, likewise, the Scarlets have followed three wins with two defeats in Scotland.
Ulster sit bottom after four defeats from four.
The matches likely to touch parts only the Heineken Cup could reach?
The Scarlets and Quins are engaged in first-day, last-day Anglo-Welsh grudge matches - the first at the new Parc Y Scarlets, but it is Stade's trek there in round five that looms as the pool's potential decider.
How the pool might ultimately shape up?
Stade look interested again and not only are long due a lengthy run but have the squad strength (only rivalled by Toulouse and Clermont) to maintain a push on both fronts.
POOL FIVE
Toulouse Bath Dragons Glasgow
Who's got 'previous'?
Toulouse - the only three-time winners - and last season's finalists, have reached the last eight in all but three of the tournament's 13 years and will play their 100th match in round six at Bath, the 1998 winners, who return for the first time since reaching the European Cup semi-finals three years ago.
Glasgow have never reached the last eight in nine attempts, with one win in their last 27 away games at Viadana, while the Dragons have never done so in four attempts.
So who or what's new then?
Freddy Michalak will return to Toulouse for the December rounds and David Skrela has joined from Paris to give Guy Noves riches galore at halfback (where Byron Kelleher was the player of the year in the Top 14 and man of the match in their memorable final win over Clermont). Justin Harrison has pitched up at Bath, who have smoothed over the loss of Olly Barkley and Steve Borthwick.
Glasgow's recruitment drive went native after they lost Daryl Gibson, while the Dragons have sought to offset the loss of such Welsh stalwarts as Michael Owen with Southern Hemisphere imports such as the Kiwi hooker Tom Willis.
How have they been going this season?
After losing two from four at Montpellier and Clermont, Toulouse have hit their straps with a 41-10 win at Montauban and last week's 30-20 victory at home to Perpignan.
Free-scoring, flowing Bath have bucked the trend amid the breakdown fear factor in England to set the pace with four wins from five; the only blemish being down to a jetlagged Butch James missing five from five at home to Gloucester.
Glasgow have two wins from four and the Dragons two (at Ulster and at home to Edinburgh in the last fortnight) from five in the Magners League.
The matches likely to touch parts only the Heineken Cup could reach?
Toulouse versus Bath on the opening Sunday could be a riotous thriller given the free-running style of both teams, and would be a mouthwatering climax if they were both still in contention come the last weekend of the group stages.
How the pool might shape up?
As they have shown more than any French side, Toulouse have the squad strength as well as the pro-Euro tendencies to maintain a push on both fronts, and presuming there are none of their silly away performances they could have the pool wrapped up before going to Bath.
They would want to, mind.
POOL SIX
Biarritz Gloucester Cardiff Calvisano
Who's got 'previous'?
Despite qualifying from their group six times out of eight, and reaching the 2006 decider, Biarritz have previous alright. Indifferent last year, they failed to even qualify from another favourable draw, featuring Italian opposition for the fourth year in a row.
Gloucester made their third quarter-final in six attempts last year but were mugged by Munster for a third time.
Cardiff, finalists in the inaugural year and five times qualifiers, reached the last eight for the first time in seven attempts last season.
Calvisano have drawn a blank from their last three Cup campaigns.
So who or what's new then?
Jacques Delmas has replaced the departed Patrick Lagisquet as head coach at Biarritz after last season's desultory, joyless efforts but after the loss of Serge Betsen and retirement of Petru Balan their reinforcements have not been spectacular.
The arrival of Olly Barkley and Greg Somerville has heightened expectations in the Shed. But Aled Brew, Richard Mustoe and Ceri Sweeney are hardly marquee signings at the Blues, who will renew acquaintances with Peter Sidoli at Calvisano.
How have they been going this season?
After three home wins, successive losses away to unheralded Basque rivals Dax (30-18) and at Clermont (32-6) last week have left Biarritz's newly installed head coach Jacques Delmas with three weeks to save his job as Serge Blanco focuses more of his attentions on his home-town club.
Gloucester have yet to set the world alight, losses to Leicester and Sale offset by wins against Bath, Quins and Newcastle.
Improving Cardiff have two wins from five in the Magners while Calvisano lie fifth in Italy, with two wins from three, though a 46-16 defeat at Rovigo two weeks ago looks, eh, decidedly ominous.
The matches likely to touch parts only the Heineken Cup could reach?
Gloucester host Biarritz on the opening weekend, and their final weekend shoot-out could be spectacular if - and it's a large if - Biarritz are still interested, while the back-to-back Anglo-Welsh clashes could be juicy.
How the pool might ultimately shape up?
With their high-profile signings, Gloucester's nearly men surely ought to start learning from their previous misses and, on paper, look the best equipped to advance. But can they stand the heat?
With Calvisano expected to prop up the pool, this could be two to qualify.
