Page 1 of 2

ERC Cup Draw (Confirmed)

Posted: Tue Jun 14, 2005 12:26 pm
by cables
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

Posted: Tue Jun 14, 2005 12:37 pm
by colinh
Bit of deja vu for Leinster and Munster. So when was the draw made?

Colin :twisted:

Posted: Tue Jun 14, 2005 12:42 pm
by ding dong2u
Bit of a change for us :shock: No SF instead we get to go to Biarritz :D and Treviso :D and up the M whatever it is to kick the Fez Boys 8)

Posted: Tue Jun 14, 2005 12:46 pm
by pwrmoore
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...

Posted: Tue Jun 14, 2005 2:04 pm
by Rooster
Biarrtitz looks the toughest one in our lot this year plus we actually get on to mainland Europe for 2 games :D

Posted: Tue Jun 14, 2005 2:25 pm
by **toots**
No Leeds in Pool 4 though!

:cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:

Posted: Tue Jun 14, 2005 2:30 pm
by Alister Scott
Nor Ulster in Pool 2.

Posted: Tue Jun 14, 2005 4:19 pm
by Freddie Benson
any ideas when the fixtures are going to be announced?
and then changed whenever they get skyjacked?

Posted: Tue Jun 14, 2005 5:48 pm
by cyril
it was pretty close to the leaked version though :shock: :shock:

Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2005 10:52 am
by BR
cyril wrote:it was pretty close to the leaked version though :shock: :shock:
Any statisticians care to work it out? Would 1 in 25000 be far from the mark?

Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2005 11:18 am
by pwrmoore
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 :P but I reckon you'll get at least one or two groups looking very like the real draw every time you do it.

Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2005 12:06 pm
by BR
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 :P 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 :)

Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2005 12:10 pm
by pwrmoore
Maybe I'm a co-conspirator - with the remit to put you all off the scent :wink:

Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2005 8:46 pm
by mid ulster maestro
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.

Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2005 9:43 pm
by ding dong2u
Thought Ryanair flew directly to both Treviso and Biarritz