Yahoo News Heineken Champions Cup draw: Wasps handed difficult pool against European champions Leinster, Toulouse and Bath
Premiership hopes of an improved season in the Heineken Champions Cup looked slimmer than ever on Wednesday as the pools for the 2018/19 campaign were drawn out of the hat, proving just how hard progression to the quarter-finals – let alone winning it – currently is.
The draw, which took place at the European Premier Club Rugby’s base in the Swiss city of Lausanne, made particularly unwelcome reading for Wasps. With the top seeds made up of reigning champions Leinster, Pro14 finalists Scarlets, English champions Saracens and French Top 14 finalists Castres and Montpellier, Wasps knew that one of the big five would be in their pool.
As it happens, they got the nightmare draw: reigning European and Pro14 champions Leinster, and Dai Young’s smile – if there was any smile left after the departure of forwards coach Danny Wilson earlier this week before he even started his new job – will have disappeared when Toulouse and domestic rivals Bath joined them in Pool A.
After seeing just one English side reach last season’s quarter-finals, there is something of an inquisition going on among the English top tier over whether 2017/18 was a blip of if there is a genuine threat of being overtaken by French, Irish and even Welsh clubs.
One thing that does look likely though is a seventh consecutive quarter-final appearance for Saracens, should the competition go to form. Having been grouped with Glasgow Warriors and Cardiff Blues form the Pro14 and French side Lyon, Saracens will be quietly confident of emerging from the pool stage intent on making up for last season’s disappointing quarter-final exit.
Saracens very much have one of the more appealing groups. Exeter Chiefs on the other hand face a the difficult prospect of French champions Castres and last season’s European semi-finalists Munster, as well as an improving Gloucester side that will be another year wiser under head coach Johan Ackermann and reinforced by the arrivals of England fly-half Danny Cipriani and Springboks pair Jesse Kriel and Franco Mostert.
The draw looks even harder for Leicester Tigers, with runners-up Racing 92 and quarter-finalists the Scarlets making up two of the three sides that will head to Welford Road next season, with a trip to the Kingspan Stadium to face the notoriously tricky Ulster also on the cards.
The final pool features Newcastle Falcons as they venture into Europe’s elite tournament for the first time in 20 years, and while they face an unsurprisingly difficult group, the prospect of facing Toulon will have the club’s fans licking their lips in excitement, with Montpellier and Edinburgh making up the rest of the pool.
The Challenge Cup produced a clear candidate for the ‘Pool of Death’ with Northampton Saints grouped with Clermont Auvergne and the Dragons as well as Romanian side Timisoara Saracens. Worcester Warriors will take on Pau, the Ospreys and Stade Français, with Sale Sharks also handed a tricky pool in Connacht and French pair Bordeaux Begles and the returning Perpignan.
Harlequins also face a twin-French challenge in Agen and Grenoble, with Benetton Rugby also in their pool, while promoted Bristol Bears will return to Europe to take on French heavyweights La Rochelle, as well as Italian side Zebre and Russian qualifiers Enisei-STM.
Heineken Champions Cup
Pool 1: Leinster Rugby, Wasps, Toulouse, Bath Rugby
Pool 2: Castres Olympique, Exeter Chiefs, Munster Rugby, Gloucester Rugby
Pool 3: Saracens, Glasgow Warriors, Lyon, Cardiff Blues
Pool 4: Scarlets, Racing 92, Leicester Tigers, Ulster Rugby
Pool 5: Montpellier, Newcastle Falcons, Edinburgh Rugby, RC Toulon
European Challenge Cup
Pool 1: Northampton Saints, ASM Clermont Auvergne, Dragons, Timisoara Saracens
Pool 2: Pau, Ospreys, Worcester Warriors, Stade Français Paris
Pool 3: Sale Sharks, Connacht Rugby, Bordeaux-Bègles, Perpignan
Pool 4: La Rochelle, Zebre Rugby Club, Bristol Bears, Enisei-STM
Pool 5: Benetton Rugby, Harlequins, Agen, Grenoble
