JOE continues to run the rule over the Heineken Cup pools as Connacht will have their work cut out in Pool 3 and Johnny Sexton’s Racing in the so-called ‘group of death’ in Pool 4.
Pool 3
Pat Lam’s first season in charge sees Connacht again pitted with French heavyweights Toulouse, with a powerful Saracens and familiar foes Zebre joining them for company.
Top Dogs – Saracens
While Toulouse have the most decorated team in the history of the competition, they are perhaps not quite the side they once were. Since winning in 2010, they lost the following season to Leinster in the semis, and have lost at the quarter-final stage the last two years.
Saracens play a brand of rugby that is about as far removed from Guy Noves’ side in their pomp as you could possibly get, but there is no doubt it is effective. After a last eight hammering to Clermont in 2011, last year their powerful pack, directed by Owen Farrell, gave Munster two tough games in the pool stages, saw off Ulster’s challenge before falling short against Toulon in the semi-final.
They are unbeaten in the Premiership and while it may not be easy on the eye, it is damned hard to stop.
Owen Farrell will again be a key figure
Whipping Boys
After their first ever win as a club in the Pro12 already this season, Zebre will have hopes of challenging Connacht as the third best team in the group, especially given Connacht’s poor start to the Rabo where they are joint-bottom with the Italian side. Last year Zebre scored just six tries in their six games – where they also faced Connacht – and shipped 224 points.
Connacht and Zebre will target eachother for victories in the Pool
They will target the second game, a home match against Pat Lam’s side, as their best bet for a win, but we wouldn’t be putting our life savings on it. Could go either way.
Schmidt Hot – Robbie Henshaw
Has to be Robbie Henshaw. The 20-year old is only 12 months into his professional career but already is being heralded for great things. The only Connacht man named in Joe Schmidt’s first training squad, the talented Athlone man already has two caps to his name and could well add to it before the season is over.
Sound defensively and with an eye for a break, he has been rock solid for Connacht on both the wing and also at full-back. Eric Elwood said he expects Henshaw to have a long career in the green of Ireland, never mind Connacht, and the former Irish out-half isn’t one for making outlandish statements.
Most likely headline
We’ve nothing Toulouse as Connacht boss says they won’t be Lams to the slaughter
Possible rugby autobiography
Last Chance Faloon – Willie’s rugby story (Willie Faloon)
Ah You Can’t Be Serious – (Rodney Ah You)
Pool 4
The group of death is a slight overstatement as no one will lose their life, but we’ll jump on the hyperbole bandwagon as Clermont, Harlequins, Racing Metro and the Scarlets do battle in Pool 4.
Conor O’Shea will hope Harlequins build on last year’s early season form in Europe
Top Dogs – Clermont
The bridesmaids of the competition are beginning to put Munster pre-06 to shame. Their record over the last four years reads QF, SF, SF and losing last year’s showpiece in Dublin when it appeared that they would finally land the European silverware they crave.
The squad is bursting at the seams with quality and with little comings or goings at the Parc des Sports Marcel Michelin they will be a tough nut to crack.
A strong scrum with Morgan Parra dictating play from the number nine position, their pace and power in the back division is the envy of most teams. Brock James can be erratic from the pivotal position but should be there or thereabouts at the business end of the season.
Could this finally be their year?
Whipping Boys – Scarlets
With Harlequins and Jonny Sexton’s Racing also in the group, Scarlets coach Simon Easterby can be forgiven for wallowing in self-pity when the draw was made.
They would struggle to do worse than last season – losing all six games including a hockeying away to Clermont in the opening game before failing to score at home against the same opposition in their final pool game – but with an opening away trip to The Stoop, they look likely to succumb to a 11th defeat in their last 12 Heineken Cup games. And they lost Matthew Rees and George North in the summer. Even the most optimistic Scarlets fan would concede even a win would be an achievement.
Schmidt Hot – Johnny Sexton
All eyes will be on the former Leinster out-half and he will face a whole new European challenge with the Parisian outfit. With 14 new players in the squad and 20 having left the club, he has the task of guiding the club through another European adventure.
His early season form domestically has been better than the team’s results would suggest (W5 L5) and Racing have been understandably disjointed at times particularly away from home.
Sexton has already played far more games than his Irish colleagues and progression to the knock-out stages will most likely depend on how he manages to gel with the new faces around him. Racing have never made it past the group stages of the competition, but with Sexton marshalling the troops from 10 and a good start against rivals Clermont on the opening game, then it could be more than a distinct possibility.
Most likely headline
Parra-dise – Clermont scrumhalf leads side to European glory
Possible rugby autobiography
No Man is an Island by Nick Easter
