Sharks handed tough Heineken Cup draw

12 April 2012

Sale Sharks face the daunting prospect of facing European champions Munster and two French teams in the group stages of next season's Heineken Cup.

The Guinness Premiership side were handed arguably the toughest task of all the English clubs in Tuesday morning's draw, with the talented Clermont Auvergne and Montauban awaiting them in Pool One.

Premiership champions Wasps must also overcome a strong trio if they are to reach the knockout stages, with Leinster, Castres and Edinburgh making up Pool Two.

Runners-up Leicester were drawn against Perpignan, Welsh side Ospreys and Italian minnows Treviso in Pool Three.

Toulouse, who lost to Munster in last month's final, are in Pool Five alongside Challenge Cup winners Bath, Newport Gwent Dragons and Glasgow.

In Pool Six, Gloucester appear to have a strong chance of qualifying from a group which also includes French side Biarritz, cup quarter-finalists Cardiff and Italy's Calvisano.

Harlequins' prospects look slightly less rosy in Pool Four, with Stade Francais, Llanelli Scarlets and Ulster awaiting them when the matches get under way in October.

The draw was the first to use the new European Cup Rugby rankings system which split the clubs into four tiers based on performances in the competition over the last four seasons.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in