Heineken Cup draw for 2012/13 season, Tuesday 11.15am

thomond2006

Reigning champions, Leinster Rugby, will be the first club allocated a pool for the 2012/13 Heineken Cup when the draw for the composition of the six pools for the 18th tournament takes place at the Aviva Stadium, Dublin on Tuesday, 12 June (11.15am).

The pool draw for the 24 qualified clubs, which will be streamed live on ercrugby.com, will launch the countdown to the Dublin 2013 Heineken Cup final at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday, 18 May.
Having won European club rugby's premier competition three times in the past four years, Leinster also sit proudly at the top of the ERC European Rankings with 40 points, the highest total achieved by any club since the system was introduced in 2007.

To view the current ERC European Rankings, please follow this link ERC European Ranking

The rankings aim to reward and incentivise clubs which consistently perform at the highest level in European competition over four seasons.

They are used for the purposes of the Heineken Cup pool draw to allocate the clubs that have qualified into four tiers of six clubs and to ensure the highest-ranked clubs are separated in the six pools.

Leinster are joined in Tier 1 by three Heineken Cup winners in Toulouse, Munster Rugby and Northampton Saints, while Biarritz Olympique and Cardiff Blues complete the top tier of six clubs.

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 France, as there are seven French clubs in next season's competition.

Exeter Chiefs from England have qualified for the first time while a new club, Zebre, have been nominated by the Italian Federation to replace Aironi Rugby.

2012/13 Heineken Cup clubs and tiers

Tier 1
Leinster Rugby, Toulouse, Biarritz Olympique, Munster Rugby, Cardiff Blues, Northampton Saints

Tier 2
ASM Clermont Auvergne, Ulster Rugby, Leicester Tigers, Harlequins, Toulon, Edinburgh Rugby

Tier 3
Ospreys, Scarlets, Glasgow Warriors, Saracens, Connacht Rugby, Sale Sharks

Tier 4
Castres Olympique, Benetton Treviso, Racing Metro 92, Montpellier, Exeter Chiefs, Zebre

• The draw for the 2012/13 Heineken Cup pools will take place at the Aviva Stadium, Dublin on Tuesday, 12 June at 11.15am

Link: http://www.ercrugby.com/eng/news/18352.php


Honestly I think Ulster are in a better position being in Tier 2 than Tier 1, as long they avoid Toulouse they could have a very beatable group. Cardiff Blues would be a dream draw for them, IMO they are going to be seriously weak next year after their revolving door in the summer.

Munster and Leinster will probably be looking to avoid Clermont/Toulon from Tier 2 and Ospreys/Saracens from Tier 3. Racing Metro are the tough draw from Tier 4 along with Montpellier.

Similarly with Ulster probably being better off in Tier 2 than Tier 1, Connacht might have preferred to be in the bottom tier to avoid some tricky teams. With one pool set to have 2 French teams, afaik Connacht could draw Toulouse, Clermont/Toulon and Saracens which would be tasty to say the least!

Fishooks12

Hopefully:

Munster
Edinburgh
Sale
Montpelier

Hopefully not:

Munster
Clermont
Ospreys
Exeter

Tox56

Can Leinster get this Zebra team? If so I want them

tolosenc

Tox56 wrote: »

Can Leinster get this Zebra team? If so I want them

Yes but, we'd have to get either Clermont or Toulon. So I'd prefer Castres from Pot 4.

justsomebloke

Toulon, Sale and the Parma hams wouldn't be too bad a group though and would probably have 2 qualifiers

thomond2006

justsomebloke wrote: »

Toulon, Sale and the Parma hams wouldn't be too bad a group though and would probably have 2 qualifiers

Toulon are going to have a savage squad next year, going to Mayol will be very difficult, even for Leinster. Eventually Toulon are going to click and they will have the depth to 'target' both competitions next season.

justsomebloke

thomond2006 wrote: »

Toulon are going to have a savage squad next year, going to Mayol will be very difficult, even for Leinster. Eventually Toulon are going to click!

Ye eventually they have to click but I still can't see it being next year.

Big Nelly

Whats the bets Leinster get group of death as ERC wont want them to do the treble....

freyners

fantasty pool for us would be to have cardiff, edinburgh and zebre in our pool.

tbh if we drew a pool like last year id be happy

durkadurka

freyners wrote: »

fantasty pool for us would be to have cardiff, edinburgh and zebre in our pool.

tbh if we drew a pool like last year id be happy

That's impossible. You must have a French team in your group.

freyners

again, fantasy:p

on a more serious note im surprised saints are tier one, how that happen??

thomond2006

Big Nelly wrote: »

Whats the bets Leinster get group of death as ERC wont want them to do the treble....

Trust me, ERC want Leinster in the final. It wouldn't be good to have an all French final in Dublin for example.

justsomebloke

durkadurka wrote: »

That's impossible. You must have a French team in your group.

And an English team I think

justsomebloke

thomond2006 wrote: »

Trust me, ERC want Leinster in the final. It wouldn't be good to have an all French final in Dublin for example.

Ye with the full public allocation gone to Irish fans already the final could be a damp squid if an Irish team don't make it

thomond2006

Btw I've fingers crossed that Munster draw Toulon, an excuse to go back there!

Podge_irl

Big Nelly wrote: »

Whats the bets Leinster get group of death as ERC wont want them to do the treble....

Whats the bets that the draw isn't actually rigged...

(hint - its not)

.ak

Big Nelly wrote: »

Whats the bets Leinster get group of death as ERC wont want them to do the treble....

I want a pool of death. To be honest, I don't think we reached the heights we did in 2010/11 because we had some easy opposition this year (regardless of it being our best season ever). Underdog teams tend to throw the kitchen sink at you when your the european champions.

I'd like Toulon, Ospreys and Sale. Nice balance there, some hard some not, and a chance to fix our record against ospreys.

shaungil

anyone know who's in charge of the hairdryer for the hot balls? Would be good to get to know the draw in advance.

Teferi

Our strongest showing in the ERC was the group of death followed by the Tigers, Tolouse and one of the greatest comebacks in rugby history.

It seems to bring out the best in Leinster. I wouldn't be afraid of it.

Podge_irl

There are certainly some nasty group potentials but ultimately Leinster are the team every else will want to most avoid. Short of a Leinster/Clermont/Ospreys/Exeter group I would be reasonably confident they would get out of any of them.

Skid

The Heineken Cup draw will be live on TG4 from 11.15 tomorrow morning.

Coverage from the from the Aviva Stadium, as the 24 teams involved will be drawn into six pools
Category Rugby Union - Domestic
TG4 11:15am-12:05pm (50 minutes) Tue 12 June

http://www.tvnow.ie/detail.asp?id=125848233

matthew8

I must say TG4 are really doing well on the rugby front. Don't think RTE have ever done this.

the_doctor199

Streams live on ERC website here (Click me), site went down before the draw last year and never made it back so not that reliable an option.

matthew8

matthew8 wrote: »

I must say TG4 are really doing well on the rugby front. Don't think RTE have ever done this.

TG4, thanks to being a minority language station, can avail of excellent rates for things like this (thank you EU).

That being said, they've almost always been excellent providers of all things sporting. It's a great channel, and one I miss hugely!

bamboozle

big questions for me are...what teams will be in the group of death with Musnter...and which Italian team will be in Biarritz's group this year? probably along with exeter/connacht/glasgow!

Quint2010

I really hope Leinster avoid Claremont. And Toulon. And Leicester. With the final in Dublin, if we win our group well we should be at home all the way to the final..:)

justsomebloke

so personal preference would be

Leinster
Edinburgh
Sale
Racing/castres

Gracelessly Tom

To be honest, after winning three out of the last four, it's all the other teams who will be dreading getting us!

I'd love Clermont again after the experience I had in Bordeaux for the semi! Unbelievable fans.

Teferi

I'd love to get Clermont. Win or lose their fans are fantastic.

Burgo

Teferi wrote: »

I'd love to get Clermont. Win or lose their fans are fantastic.

Wouldn't like to get them in the group stages, but in the final, no that would be amazing!

irishbucsfan

Can just imagine the welcome their fans would get in Dublin for the final!

Id still love another trip to CF

[Jackass]

Deleted User wrote: »

TG4, thanks to being a minority language station, can avail of excellent rates for things like this (thank you EU).

That being said, they've almost always been excellent providers of all things sporting. It's a great channel, and one I miss hugely!

I'm not sure that's the case. Ironically, TG4 gets it funding as a portion of RTE funding, and then outbids RTE for just about anything.

TG4 has minimal staff, and the cost of the shows it broadcasts is tiny, whereas RTE (like any good public company) is laden with over staffing, inflated wages and running at a defecit.

TG4 shows the ambition that I wish RTE did. I wont go into the old "they should have a dedicated sports channel rant, but they should.

My only issue with TG4 is that, as you say, it's a minority channel, but it gets coverage of very mainstream sporting events (such as GAA & rugby amongst other things), and whilst I respect our heritage and language, I hate watching games etc. in what might as well be on some Saudi channel, as I don't speak the language, along with 95% of the rest of the country (despite what people say in a census).

I miss Setanta and wish they / anybody would buy up all the rights and put all competitions together, and in English...

Teferi

And we are live...excited.

Quint2010

For the first time ever I am happy to hear from Craig Doyle (as I assuming he can't speak irish...)

Skid

The TG4 coverage can be seen here(in Ireland anyway)

http://www.aertv.ie/#tg4

Burgo

Leinster in pool 5.

Burgo

Just me or is the audio way way off?

fitz

CLERMONT!!!!!

Teferi

Haha, I knew it! Clermont!

Burgo

Clermont first team in pool 5 with us!

Quint2010

A sweet mother of Jes*s..Claremont!

justsomebloke

NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

justsomebloke

ouch for pool 2

chris85

Oh dear. Clermont! Gonna be a tough road to Dublin next season.

Burgo

Ulster northhampton in pool 4. Munster get embra in pool 1.

Quint2010

Munster pox*d

the_doctor199

Burgo wrote: »

Just me or is the audio way way off?

Use Player 2 and it's much better http://live.ercrugby.com/player2.html

thomond2006

YESSSS....no Clermont for us!!! Sickened for Leinster!

But what an epic pool it will be!

Fishooks12

Boom, dream draw so far!

thomond2006

no trip back to Toulon for me

Burgo

clermont and scarlets so far.