ERC Cup Draw (Confirmed)

cables · Post by **cables** » Tue Jun 14, 2005 12:26 pm

Taken from the ERC site:

The Pool draw to decide the make up of the six Pools of four teams each for the 2005 / 2006 Heineken Cup was made in Cardiff on Tuesday 14 June, and sees defending champions Toulouse pooled with former champions London Wasps...
The 24 top club rugby teams in Europe now know which road they will travel as they aim for a spot in the 11th Heineken Cup final at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, on the weekend of 20 / 21 May, 2006.
ERC Chairman Jean-Pierre Lux and ERC Chief Executive Derek McGrath conducted the draw for European club rugby's premier competition in Cardiff's prestigious opera and concert hall, the Wales Millennium Centre.

Round One takes place on the weekend of Oct 21-23.

POOL 1
Munster, Castres Olympique, Sale Sharks, Newport-Gwent Dragons

POOL 2
Calvisano, Perpignan, Leeds Tykes, Cardiff Blues

POOL 3
Ospreys, Stade Francais Paris, Leicester Tigers, Clermont Auvergne

POOL 4
Biarritz Olympique Pays-Basque, Saracens, Ulster Rugby , Benetton Treviso

POOL 5
Glasgow, Bourgoin, Bath Rugby, Leinster

POOL 6
London Wasps, Toulouse, Llanelli Scarlets, Edinburgh Rugby

colinh · Post by **colinh** » Tue Jun 14, 2005 12:37 pm

Bit of deja vu for Leinster and Munster. So when was the draw made?

Colin

ding dong2u · Post by **ding dong2u** » Tue Jun 14, 2005 12:42 pm

Bit of a change for us

No SF instead we get to go to Biarritz

and Treviso

and up the M whatever it is to kick the Fez Boys

pwrmoore · Post by **pwrmoore** » Tue Jun 14, 2005 12:46 pm

Posted this on the Old URSC site - but it is so lonely over there these days...(But I've got 25 more posts to make and I ain't giving up)

I checked against the Munsterfans site predictions and I think when you take out the fact that the top seeds from each country were all predetermined as the top of each group, and the no two teams from the same country in the same group (except the 7th French team) then the similarities between the two could just be co incidental - so we don't need a steward inquiry at the moment...

Rooster · Post by **Rooster** » Tue Jun 14, 2005 2:04 pm

Biarrtitz looks the toughest one in our lot this year plus we actually get on to mainland Europe for 2 games

**toots** · Post by **toots** » Tue Jun 14, 2005 2:25 pm

No Leeds in Pool 4 though!

Alister Scott · Post by **Alister Scott** » Tue Jun 14, 2005 2:30 pm

Nor Ulster in Pool 2.

Freddie Benson · Post by **Freddie Benson** » Tue Jun 14, 2005 4:19 pm

any ideas when the fixtures are going to be announced?
and then changed whenever they get skyjacked?

cyril · Post by **cyril** » Tue Jun 14, 2005 5:48 pm

it was pretty close to the leaked version though

BR · Post by BR » Wed Jun 15, 2005 10:52 am

cyril wrote:it was pretty close to the leaked version though

Any statisticians care to work it out? Would 1 in 25000 be far from the mark?

pwrmoore · Post by **pwrmoore** » Wed Jun 15, 2005 11:18 am

I Reckon that when you take account of the fact that the top club from each nation takes the first place in each group, and that no two teams from the same nation can be in the same group (except france's 7th team) that the real number of permutations is substantially reduced. As a result you were bound to get a few groups looking pretty like the munsterfans site prediction.

In the end there was enough variation from the munsterfans prediction to suggest that this truly was an open (with constrainsts) draw.

Try it for yourself at home if you don't believe me

but I reckon you'll get at least one or two groups looking very like the real draw every time you do it.

BR · Post by BR » Wed Jun 15, 2005 12:06 pm

pwrmoore wrote:I Reckon that when you take account of the fact that the top club from each nation takes the first place in each group, and that no two teams from the same nation can be in the same group (except france's 7th team) that the real number of permutations is substantially reduced. As a result you were bound to get a few groups looking pretty like the munsterfans site prediction.

In the end there was enough variation from the munsterfans prediction to suggest that this truly was an open (with constrainsts) draw.

Try it for yourself at home if you don't believe me but I reckon you'll get at least one or two groups looking very like the real draw every time you do it.

I'm sure you're right, but this message board was lacking the obligatory conspiracy theory

pwrmoore · Post by **pwrmoore** » Wed Jun 15, 2005 12:10 pm

Maybe I'm a co-conspirator - with the remit to put you all off the scent

mid ulster maestro · Post by **mid ulster maestro** » Wed Jun 15, 2005 8:46 pm

Dates, dates, I need dates. Just been to aer lingus.com and flights to Venice are roughly 100euro return in October. According to my readers digest world atlas, (it takes three people to hold it), (the atlas that is!)Treviso is just a few kms northeast of Venice. I feel a trip coming on.

ding dong2u · Post by **ding dong2u** » Wed Jun 15, 2005 9:43 pm

Thought Ryanair flew directly to both Treviso and Biarritz