HEC: Group of death

Experience shows that what on paper appears to be the most difficult draw is surpassed on grass to be less competitive.

However...

Gruppo del morte is

Has to be pool 2 for me. pool 5 will be tough pool 2 edges it for me.

Mickado wrote:Has to be pool 2 for me. pool 5 will be tough pool 2 edges it for me.

I went for pool 2 also. But as I suggested, it will be played out on the park - they all look potentially tricky. Pool 1 would've been my second choice.

+1 on what Mickado says. Tigers, Tolouse and the Ospreys gives 2 league champions and 1 runner up (could/should have been champions if they hadn't played cack in the final). There's a whole load of international talent in that group.

Pool 2 will be brutal, but let's face it, it's between Clermont and Leinster. The Scarlets won't live with either team up front and although, Exeter will earn a lot of respect from fans new to Sandy Park they won't be topping the group.

Pool 1 is a weird one, you wouldn't necessarily back any of those teams to win the tournament but they are all good and all at a similar level.

Ye sam i agree with all that there is some cracking games coming up in the group stages i cant wait

Not so much the group of death, but Pool 5 is challenging for the two favourites. Leinster and Clermont may well cancel each other out, and Scarlets and Exeter are unlikely to be pushovers, with bonus points difficult to come by. I can't see the runners-up getting more than an Amlin place, and the winners may struggle for a home quarter.

I voted pool 5, because I think that Exeter are a bit of an unknown quanity for Leinster and Clermont to deal with. And the Scarlets have also made life awkward for a few 'dead certs' to qualify (London Irish, Northampton) in the last few seasons.

I think pool 2 is a really hard pool, but with Treviso there, I think it may just be a bit easier.

That said I only see one side leaving both of these groups (pool 3 and 6 having the runners up place).

Im surprised to hear people say Pool 1 is the toughest. In fact I defintely dont think it is.

Munster will be happy to avoid Clermont, Quins, Tigers, Ospreys and Toulon.
Edinburgh and Saracens didn't get lumped in with the like of Leinster or Toulouse and overall it could have been a lot worse for all the teams in the group.
I have never seen Racing really deliver or even look like they really want to do well in Europe.

For me I think that its certainly Pool 2 although I think that Pool 6 will be the most evenly contested pool.

It's got to be Pool 3! Biarritz fans will be cursing their rotten luck as usual.

No, wait- I got that wrong didn't I? Biarritz have drawn an Italian team 8 out of the last 9 Heineken Cups I believe. You'd think they'd know a thing or two about beating them, but they've lost to Italian opposition two years in a row now. Good luck on the hat trick lads!

I feel like this is the year they'll be found out (again) but will get an Amlin spot or a best runners up spot (again). The upside is I'll get to watch Dmitri Yachvilli, one my favourite ever scrumhalves.

I shouldn't envy Biarritz. As Bob Dylan once sang; I can't help it if I'm lucky...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnUnoReKP0s

It's gotta be pool 2 hasn't it. Pools 1 & 5 not far off though. I reckon Ospreys and Tigers will go through from Pool 1 with the French having another bad year and then threatening to leave again.

Anyone else think Beshocked has 18 duplicate accounts?

With 3 of this year's quarter finalists and no Italian side I think Pool 1 has the most closely grouped teams and the least likely to produce a runner up.

Morgannwg wrote:Anyone else think Beshocked has 18 duplicate accounts?

18 Duplicate accounts but only one eye...

I actually think the toughest group is Pool 2.

In terms of toughness probably :

Pool 2
Pool 1
Pool 5
Pool 4
Pool 6
Pool 3

Never write off Toulouse.