RUGBY: LEINSTER HAVE been named as the top seeds for next Tuesday's Heineken Cup pool draws at Twickenham. Munster join them in tier one along with Toulouse, Biarritz Olympique, the Leicester Tigers and, surprisingly, Welsh franchise the Cardiff Blues, writes Gavin Cummiskey.
Despite making this season’s quarter-final, Ulster only make tier three, so they will be drawn in a pool with one of the six tier two clubs: the Northampton Saints, Bath, Harlequins, London Irish, ASM Clermont Auvergne and the Ospreys.
English Premiership champions Saracens, Gloucester, Glasgow, Edinburgh and the Llanelli Scarlets make up tier three.
Connacht’s first foray into the main European competition sees them in tier four with Italian clubs Benetton Treviso and Aironi, and current French Top 14 finalists Montpellier, Castres Olympique and Racing Metro 92.
The Irish provinces cannot be drawn in the same pool, so Ulster and Connacht will face one each from Toulouse, Cardiff, Leicester and Biarritz.
CLUBS AND TIERS
TIER ONE:Leinster, Toulouse, Munster, Cardiff Blues, Biarritz Olympique, Leicester Tigers
TIER TWO: Northampton Saints, ASM Clermont Auvergne, Ospreys, Bath Rugby, Harlequins, London Irish
TIER THREE: Ulster Rugby, Saracens, Gloucester Rugby, Glasgow Warriors, Scarlets, Edinburgh
TIER FOUR: Connacht Rugby, Benetton Treviso, Castres Olympique, Montpellier, Racing Metro 92, Aironi Rugby
