Draw for next season pits Wasps and Bath in ‘Pool of Winners’
HOLDERS Leinster will face three other former winners in Pool One of next season’s Heineken Champions Cup.
The Irish PRO14 champions have been drawn against Wasps, Toulouse and Bath, with 11 titles between the four sides.
Leinster and Toulouse are the most decorated sides in the history of the tournament, with four victories each. Wasps won in 2004 and 2007, and Bath took the 1998 title.
Premiership winners Saracens are in Pool Three, alongside Challenge Cup champions Cardiff Blues, Glasgow and Lyon.
Last year’s runners-up Racing 92 are in Pool Four with Scarlets, Leicester Tigers and Ulster.
Exeter, who were beaten by Saracens in May’s Premiership final, are in Pool Two, alongside French Top 14 champions Castres, Munster and Gloucester.
Exeter director of rugby Rob Baxter said: “We see ourselves as a strong side and we think we can compete on multiple fronts.
“We’re going to be really enthusiastic about Europe. We’re not going to run away from challenges.”
Bath qualified for the Heineken Champions Cup by securing sixth place in the Premiership on the final day of the season with a 63-19 thrashing of London Irish.
“Once you do the hard work, like the lads did last year, to fight their way into the Champions Cup, you want the big challenges and you want the big games,” Bath coach Stuart Hooper said.
“So going to the champions Leinster and having the champions come back to our place is huge.”
“It’s a very difficult draw, but that is what you expect when you are playing against the best 19 other teams in Europe,” added Dai Young, Wasps director of rugby.
“It’s exciting to be drawn with the defending champions and Toulouse, who have also won the competition several times. They will be great match-ups.
“We’ve also had some really good games with Bath in recent seasons, including a double-header in Europe three years back. They’ll all be tough games.”
“You get to the Champions Cup because you’ve really achieved and had a good campaign the previous season, therefore it’s important we give a good account of ourselves and we’re looking forward to the challenge,” said new Blues coach John Mulvihill.
“The boys will be able to take a lot of confidence from what they achieved in the back half of last season and we need to build on that going forward.
“As you’d expect in this competition, it is a very challenging set of fixtures, but the squad will be motivated at the prospect of facing some of the best teams around the continent in one of the best competitions in club rugby.”
Leicester have European Cup history against all three teams in their Pool, while they will meet Racing for a fourth successive season. “It’s a very competitive pool, but every pool is tough in this tournament ,” said coach Matt O’Connor.
“We obviously know all about Racing after playing against them so often in recent years, and Ulster have been pretty regular opponents for us too. Scarlets were impressive in the PRO14 and in Europe last season so we’ll look forward to meeting them all.”
With a semi final finish in the 2017-18 competition Scarlets were drawn in to Tier 1 for the draw alongside Leinster, Saracens, Castres and Montpellier.
Scarlets head coach Wayne Pivac said: “A semi final in last season’s competition is something that we’re all immensely proud of but equally just as disappointed that we didn’t play to the best of our abilities on that afternoon in Dublin.
“Getting a good start in these competitions is vital and that’s something we failed to do last season. We will be looking to improve our performances in the opening rounds and build on last season’s success.”