If avoiding the pool of death is the first objective for teams in the Heineken Cup, then Leinster, who won the trophy for the first time a fortnight ago, will be pleased with yesterday’s draw in Paris for next season’s pools.
When the competition resumes in October, they will play alongside ambitious London Irish, Brive, the 1997 winners, and the Scarlets, who have struggled at this level over the past two seasons.
If there is a pool of death, and the seeding system has reduced that probability, it is pool five, which contains two English clubs: Harlequins, who gave Leinster such a rough ride in the quarter-finals in April, and Sale Sharks come up against Cardiff Blues and Toulouse, three-times winners. Leicester will not have an easy ride even though they have one of the Italian minnows in pool three; there, too, are the Ospreys and Clermont Auvergne, beaten finalists last weekend in the Top 14.
Already 30,000 tickets have been sold for the final in Paris on May 22, although one club who will not be there, London Wasps, are gearing up for a renewed assault. Wasps, winners in 2004 and 2007, failed to qualify last season but have confirmed the addition to their coaching staff of Trevor Woodman and John McCloskey.
Woodman, England’s 2003 World Cup-winning prop, who retired at 29, becomes forwards coach and McCloskey arrives from Gaelic football as skills coach. They will be joined by Jason Hobson, the Bristol prop capped by England last year but more renowned for the punch that laid out Phil Vickery, who becomes his playing colleague.
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Pool one: Munster, Perpignan, Northampton, Treviso
Pool two: Biarritz, Gloucester, Newport Gwent Dragons, Glasgow
Pool three: Leicester, Ospreys, Clermont Auvergne, Viadana
Pool four: Bath, Stade Français, Ulster, Edinburgh
Pool five: Toulouse, Cardiff Blues, Sale Sharks, Harlequins
Pool six: Leinster, London Irish, Scarlets, Brive