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After the varying disappointments of the Rugby World Cup, the European club/provincial competition gets underway again next weekend, with some of the usual suspects to lift the Cup being joined by a few more possible contenders for this season’s tournament.
The format of the competition consisting of six pools of four teams is interesting. Only the pool winners qualify automatically for the knockout stages, before they are joined by the best of second-placers from the six pools.
The second round teams are hence, generally only known when the last match of the last round has been played.
This season sees the following pool line-up:
Pool 1
Castres
Munster
Northampton
Scarlets
Pool 2
Cardiff Blues
Edinburgh
London Irish
Racing Metro Paris
Pool 3
Bath
Glasgow Warriors
Leinster
Montpellier
Pool 4
Aironi
Clermont Auvergne
Leicester Tigers
Ulster
Pool 5
Biarritz
Ospreys
Saracens
Treviso
Pool 6
Connacht
Gloucester
Harlequins
Toulouse
In Pool 1, Munster will have a fight on their hands, with Saints and Scarlets looking to get an edge on the faltering former Heineken champions.
Munster may find themselves looking down the barrel of disappointment again this season. Northampton will be looking to make amends for their collapse in the final last season against Leinster.
Scarlets will be there or thereabouts and could take points off the front two at home.
Munster’s Thomond fortress to be breached again.
Prediction: Northampton first
Pool 2 looks a good bet for the Cardiff Blues, however, Racing are performing well in the Top 14, and if the Frenchmen can travel better than last season, they could come out on top.
The Irish blow too hot and cold and could easily lose to Edinburgh, never mind the two front-runners.
Prediction: Blues to nick it.
Pool 3 has been dubbed an easy pool for current champions, Leinster, to take out and get themselves a home quarter-final by gaining top spot and some bonus points along the way.
Judging by their performance in last weekend’s derby against Munster, they’ll have to work a lot harder.
They’ve brought in a couple of imports this season, but one of them is already injured, and Horgan and O’Driscoll may be out for a while with long-term knee and shoulder injuries.
Schmidt has been developing some of the new youngsters, but they may not be up to scratch.
Prediction: This could end up being a hard-fought pool with Leinster possibly nicking it on the last day, but Montpellier could surprise a few people.
Pool 4 has supposed easybeats Aironi – the weaker of the two Italian teams, and thus this pool will likely provide one of the two best runner-up.
Former European winners Leicester and Ulster along with T14 champions, Clermont Auvergne, will be knocking lumps out of each other at their home bases and hoping to snatch wins somewhere on the road.
This is a difficult one to call, but I suspect Vern Cotter may galvanise his troops to push them to the top.
Prediction: Clermont first, Ulster second (just).
Pool 5 has the other Italian side, Treviso, awaiting for teams unprepared to do the hard yards.
Last year, Treviso took a couple of scalps, and they’ve had four wins on the trot in the Pro 12, so they’ll be looking to upset Biarritz, Saracens or Ospreys.
Premiership champions, Saracens, have added to their ranks this year, with the most notable being John Smit, and are determined to push on for European honours.
Biarritz have been here plenty of times before, and know how to grind out a win, when the time calls for it.
Welsh outfit, Ospreys, have lost some of their ‘galacticos’ and have had a flying start to their league season, even without their Rugby World Cup players.
They stumbled at the weekend, as combinations took time to gel, but they’ll be a handful for any of their opponents.
Prediction: This is probably the most difficult pool to call, and sides will trade losses, but I’ll go with Ospreys to take it out in the final pool round.
Pool 6 has another newcomer – with Connacht making it through to the competition for the first time, courtesy of Leinster automatically qualifying as winners last season.
The Irish development side have lost four players to their provincial rivals, and like Aironi, are likely to provide five-pointers for others in the pool.
Four-time champions, Toulouse, should do for the Irish club as well as English teams, Harlequins and Gloucester.
Prediction: Toulouse first, Quins as runner-up.
One bookie has Leinster and Toulouse as joint 4/1 favorites followed by Leicester (7/1), Clermont (9/1), Munster and Northampton (10/1) and Saracens (12/1).
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.