Heineken Cup Draw To Take Place On Tuesday
The draw for the composition of the pools for the 14th Heineken Cup will take place on Tuesday (June 17) in Dublin, while the announcement of the pool draw for next season’s European Challenge Cup will be made on Monday week (June 23).
2008/09 Heineken Cup Draw:
Guidelines
For the purpose of the draw, the 24 qualified teams are ranked based on their ERC European Rankings and are divided into four tiers of six teams. 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 France (based on European Ranking) which will be drawn into a pool with another French team.
The winner of the previous season’s Heineken Cup (Munster) will be seeded number 1 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 (Heineken Cup champions Munster) 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.
Allocation of tier 2, 3 and 4 – For each tier allocation, the teams will be drawn starting with the teams from the country with the highest number of teams participating in the tournament.
Therefore the order of allocation in each tier will be teams from France, England, Wales, Ireland, Scotland and Italy until all teams in that tier have been drawn. The draw will then move on to the teams in the next tier.
In tier 4 the seventh French team (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.
For the overall ERC European Rankings, please click here.
The Teams And Tiers –
TIER 1 – Munster, Toulouse, Biarritz Olympique, Leicester Tigers, Stade Français Paris, London Wasps
TIER 2 – Leinster, Bath, Gloucester, Perpignan, Sale Sharks, Llanelli Scarlets
TIER 3 – Ospreys, Cardiff Blues, ASM Clermont Auvergne, Newport Gwent Dragons, Ulster, Castres Olympique
TIER 4* – Glasgow Warriors, Benetton Treviso, Edinburgh, Calvisano, Harlequins
*The last French tier 4 team will be confirmed this weekend and will be either Montauban or Montpellier.
Meanwhile, the he draw for the composition of the five pools of four teams each for the European Challenge Cup tournament will be announced on Monday week (June 23), following completion of the play-offs for Top 14 promotion in France.
Next season will see Connacht again fly the flag for Ireland in the competition as they compete in their 13th European Challenge Cup.
2008/09 European Challenge Cup Teams –
France:
Brive
Bourgoin
Bayonne
Dax
Toulon
Two teams yet to be confirmed
England:
London Irish
Saracens
Bristol
Worcester Warriors
Newcastle Falcons
Northampton Saints
Italy:
Viadana
Petrarca
Femi CZ Rovigo
Overmach Parma
Ireland:
Connacht
Spain:
El Salvador
Romania:
Bucuresti