RUGBY:EVEN FIVE months out the draw whets the appetite. Given added resonance by the presence of all four Irish provinces for the first time, yesterday's draw for the 2011-12 Heineken Cup provided a predictably mixed if intriguing bag. The holders Leinster have a less daunting pool than the season just completed, while Connacht, in their debut campaign, are thrilled to be welcoming the world's foremost club side, Toulouse, to the Sportsground.
On foot of being paired with Bath, Glasgow and Montpellier, Leinster coach Joe Schmidt admitted: “I think it’s better than this season,” and added, in reference to his former club, “I’m glad to see we haven’t got Clermont.”
Bath underperformed in the cup last season, losing home and away to both Ulster and Biarritz, with just a double over Aironi, but they have Euro pedigree as 1998 champions, and finished just outside the Premiership play-offs.
Glasgow finished second last in the Magners League after a summer exodus and would have been most people’s favoured third seeds, while debutants Montpellier are an unknown quantity. Incurring an ERC ban for nominating an under-strength squad in the Amlin Challenge Cup, Montpellier nonetheless reached their first Top 14 final last Saturday, losing a bruiser 15-10 to Toulouse, and with Fabien Galthie in charge and young French tyros such as out-half Francois Trinh-Duc and captain Fulgence Ouedraogo, played the most enterprising rugby in France throughout the season.
The draw was conducted at lunchtime at Twickenham, the venue for the 2012 final, and speaking from New Zealand last night, Schmidt added: “I think Montpellier will be tough, based on their game the other day against Toulouse. That was a massive effort, especially on the back of three massive efforts to get to the final.
“Glasgow are a team we know pretty well. I think Wasps found this year you can’t take them lightly as losing in Firhill really undid their Heineken Cup campaign. They’ve usually got a decent upset in them. They beat Toulouse a couple of years ago in Toulouse, which was an outstanding effort as well, and Bath are the team I probably know least about. They haven’t been in a pool that I’ve been in for the last four years.”
In addition to Toulouse, Connacht also drew two English sides in Gloucester and Harlequins, but coach Eric Elwood maintained:
“We’re thrilled. Just trying to comprehend that – Toulouse are coming to Galway, and then you can imagine the exodus that is going to go over to their place. It’s exciting for the supporters.
“There’s good work going on, on and off the pitch and it’s going to give everyone a lift. It’s going to give the PGB (Professional Game Board) a lift, it’s going to give the players a lift and the supporters a lift. It’s terrific. The phone is hopping here, and I don’t even know the other groups.”
As top seeds, Munster arguably drew the shortest of straws from the second tier in Northampton, last month’s beaten finalists, in what will be a re-run of their losing 2000 final in Twickenham, since when they met three times two seasons ago. They also have previous with the Scarlets, who dethroned them at the quarter-final stage in 2007, and Castres, whom Munster have met 10 times – more than any other opponents in the competition’s history. But they have lost there on three of their four previous visits and Castres, guided by the highly-regarded young coaching team of Laurent Travers and Laurent Labit, were unbeaten at Stade Pierre Antoine all season until their defeat to Montpellier in the barrage.
“We’re up against sides we know well,” commented Munster forwards coach Anthony Foley, who speculated only one side might qualify for the quarter-finals. “We had Northampton Saints in our group last season and then again in the quarter-final, and the scoreline that day didn’t reflect the closeness of the game. Then Scarlets, we play them twice a season in the league, are never an easy touch. They’ve a good European pedigree and of course Castres have been around a long time, there’s plenty of history there for us, and they are one of the French sides that you know are going to put it up to you.”
Not for the first time, Ulster would have been cursing their luck after being paired with two-time winners Leicester, big-spending Clermont-Auvergne and Aironi, who have already signed seven new players for next season.
