Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
ULSTER V WASPS
POOL ONE
Wasps and Quins are hit by injuries while
Ulster lost to
Italy’s Zebre this month. La
Rochelle are favourites, after doing a ‘Leicester’ last season to finish top of the French Top 14 against the odds.
Charles Piutau (Ulster)
La Rochelle POOL TWO
Saracens bid to match Toulon (2013-15) in winning three successive titles. But they are drawn with
Clermont, last year’s runners-up.
Ospreys will struggle but Northampton could surprise.
Owen Farrell (Saracens)
Saracens, Clermont POOL THREE
On paper, at least, the ‘pool of death’ with
Glasgow,
Pro14’s only unbeaten side, drawn with
English champs
Exeter, three-time
Euro kings Leinster and big-spending Montpellier.
Sam Simmonds (Exeter)
Leinster POOL FOUR
Leicester and Munster are Euro giants of yesteryear, with two titles apiece in the Noughties. Racing and Castres are French clubs with no form to speak of.
Tigers are the form team, having won four games in a row, and in Ben Youngs and George Ford they have the halfbacks to test any team.
George Ford (Leicester)
Munster, Leicester POOL FIVE
This is the 20th anniversary of Bath’s European Cup-winning campaign and they have barely won a bean since.
Overhauling three-time champs Toulon and Pro12 winners Scarlets will test them. Anthony
Watson (Bath)
Scarlets, Bath
RULES: The five pool winners and three best-placed runners-up qualify for the quarter-finals.
DATES: Pool stages - Round 1: Oct 13-15. 2: Oct 20-22. 3: Dec 8-10. 4: Dec 15-17. 5: Jan 12-14. 6: 19-21. QFS: March 29-31. SFS: April 20-22. Final (Bilbao, Spain): May 12.
ODDS (William Hill): 9/4 Saracens, 7 Toulon, 8 Clermont, 9 Leinster, 10 Montpellier, 11 Munster, 16 Racing 92, Wasps, 20 Exeter, 25 La Rochelle, Scarlets, 33 Leicester, 40 Bath, 50 Glasgow, Ulster.