Champions Cup Pool Draw

Next season marks the second year of the new European competitions, and following the draws this week, Mike Stanton analyses the lay of the land for the European Champions Cup.

Pool 1:

Top 14 outfit Oyonnax will certainly have a baptism of fire in the Champions Cup. They find themselves drawn against Premiership champions Saracens, one of the best performing sides in European history in Toulouse and Ulster who came fourth in the Pro 12 last year and have proven themselves in Europe many times over.

Saracens, who reached the semis last year thanks to a last gasp Marcelo Bosch penalty, lost out to Clermont but will be hoping to build on LV= and Premiership titles in 2014/15 to claim their first European trophy but have a huge challenge just to make it out of the pool.

Pool 2:

Clermont had a year to forget in many ways last season. Despite doing so well throughout the year, they once again fell at the final hurdle; losing in both the Top 14 and the Champions Cup finals.

They find themselves against last year’s Challenge Cup semi finalists Exeter Chiefs, who having added the likes of Geoff Parling and Julian Salvi to their ranks will certainly be making a serious challenge.

Also in the pool are Ospreys, who finished third in the Pro 12 and have signed Paul James from Premiership runners up Bath, and Bordeaux who qualified for the Champions Cup having beating Gloucester in the play offs.

Clermont and Exeter will be favourites for the top spot, but can Clermont keep their cool and make it count on the big stage, or will they blow it for another year?

Pool 3:

Dan Carter’s Racing 92 face stiff competition in Pool 3. Having topped Pool 5 last year and strengthened considerably with Carter, Yannick Nyanga, Chris Masoe and Martin Castrogiovanni they would have thought they would be reasonably safe to make it through the pools.

However, the draw hasn’t been kind to the Parisians. They line up against a wounded Northampton who will want to put their humbling in the Premiership semi and Champions Cup quarter finals behind them and having added Kieran Brookes and Jamie Gibson among others to their roster, they will be up their with one of the top contenders.

Also in Pool 3 are Pro 12 champions Glasgow who had an incredible season last year with the likes of Stuart Hogg and Finn Russell running the show. They are also up against Scarlets who finished 6^th in the Pro 12 and will find it tough to progress past the pool stages.

Pool 4:

Pool 4 pits some of the game’s greatest clubs against each other. Top 14 Champions Stade Francais, two-time European Champions Munster and two-time European Champions and 10 time Premiership Champions Leicester Tigers will all face each other, giving Italian outfit Treviso a stern challenge to say the least.

Leicester, after a tough start to the season, were back to their battling best at the end of the 2014/15 term. They couldn’t make it past the pool stages last time out but having added to the squad the mercurial Peter Betham, no one will be questioning the Tigers’ bite this season.

Pool 5:

Pool 5 is the ultimate ‘pool of death’, with all the sides having met in last years knock outs. Premiership runners up, Bath, find themselves up against three time champions Leinster, two time champions Wasps and the current champions, who claimed their unprecedented third successive European title last time out Toulon.

Bath, who played some of the most attractive rugby in Europe last year, have added to their line-up with the addition of Welsh fly half Rhys Priestland and will be hoping to go further than last year, topping pool 4 but lost out to Leinster in the quarters.

Leinster, who lost out on to Toulon in the semi, welcome back Jonny Sexton and will look to humble Bath again and get their revenge on Toulon.

Wasps, who lost to Toulon in last years quarter finals, have bought in Leinster fly half Jimmy Gopperth and Wallaby legend George Smith, hoping to get back to their title winning past.

Toulon have once again spent big. Ma’au Nonu, Quade Cooper, Selesi Ma’afu, Duane Vermeulen and Paul O’Connell are all set to join the Harlem Globetrotters of rugby, as they look to claim their fourth successive title.

This pool has four of Europe’s best sides going toe to toe, add to that the spice from last year and a couple of players swapping sides; this pool could stage some of the all time classic encounters.