Europe's New Order
The birth of the European Champions cup last year marked a new era for European rugby, a tougher era. This was immediately evident even before the draw took place, with Clermont Auvergne amongst the Tier 3 seeds, Toulouse too sat in Tier 4 despite their four European titles, the message was clear - history meant nothing.
The ensuing tournament was earmarked as the most brutal draw Europe had ever seen - the prime of example of which was Pool 1, seeing three semi-finalists from the previous two years pitted in the same pool, Munster failing to deal with the dual threat of both Clermont and Saracens.
The 2015/16 tournament looks set to eclipse this further with the presence of the ever improving Glasgow Warriors alongside Saracens and Stade Francais as definite Tier 1 seeds via their domestic successes, something newly appointed ECPR Chairman Simon Halliday regards as ''a new order in European rugby''.
Halliday is not wrong and this is perhaps typified by the presence of Stade Francais and Saracens in Tier 1, each having failed to top their domestic leagues in the regular season. Both finished in 4th position, Saracens just barely edging into the knock-out stages via a stronger points difference than the Exeter Chiefs. The Champions Cup rewards the results of the knock-out stages, not the regular season - Northampton Saints and Toulon falling victim to this.
This years tournament looks stronger than ever, Halliday regarding this as representative of ''truly elite-level sport''. The presence of 2014/15 semi-finalists Leinster as Tier 3 seeds and Toulon amongst the Tier 2 sides is perhaps an indication of flaws in the seeding system - together the sides have won six out of the last 7 Heineken Cups/Champions Cups.
The seeding system is now very much based on merit and not past achievements, very much the opposite to the Champions Cup's predecessor, the Heineken Cup and representative of Halliday's ''new order''. The Heineken Cup's seeding system was undoubtedly flawed, allowing teams such as Leicester, Toulouse and Munster a perpetual advantage through the successes of teams of old. This was shown clearly in the debut of the Champions Cup last season, seeing Munster, Leicester and Toulouse all fail to progress past the group stages - the 'Old order' suffering the results of the change. The Champions Cup has brought the intensity of the knock-out stages of the competition into the pool stages - expect several intensely difficult pools, expect home losses to become much more common, expect surprises.
How the draw works
Tomorrow's draw will operate in the exact same manner as last years with the domestic champions of each of Europe's leagues automatically being placed in Tier 1. Saracens, Glasgow and Stade Francais will be joined by two of the three domestic runner-ups to be decided at random. This will see two of Munster, Bath and Clermont being promoted to Tier 1.
The remaining Tier 2 side will be joined by the third ranked sides from each domestic league(the losing semi-finalist who finished highest in the regular season) - Northampton, Toulon and the Ospreys. The final Tier 2 position will be awarded to the league whos team missed out on a second Tier 1 team(eg Munster and Clermont being upgraded to Tier 1 ahead of Bath would see Leicester promoted to Tier 2).
The third tier will compromise of fourth ranked teams and fifth ranked teams. This consists of Leicester, Ulster and Toulouse, one of which will be promoted to the second tier(as discussed above), and Exeter Chiefs, Racing Metro and Leinster - who are all guaranteed to be in the third tier.
Tier 4 will be made up of sixth ranked sides, including Wasps, Oyonnax and Scarlets. Treviso will also be in Tier 4 by virtue of the fact they finished above fellow Italians Zebre in the Guinness Pro12(each nationality is guaranteed at least one team in the Champions Cup in the Pro12). Lastly, Bordeaux-Begles will be the 20th team in this years tournament having defeated Gloucester 23-22 in the play-off between those who finished 7th in their domestic leagues, the English side were victorious over Connacht in the first round of the play-offs.
Finally, each of the five pools must feature at least one side from each of the three leagues and Pro12 sides cannot be placed in a pool with another team from their own nation. As a result of this it is already decided that Oyonnax, Bordeaux-Begles and Wasps will be placed in a pool with another team from their domestic league.
Tier 1:
- Glasgow Warriors
- Saracens
- Stade Francais
- One of Munster/Bath/Clermont
- One of Munster/Bath/Clermont
Tier 2:
- The remaining side out of Munster/Bath/Clermont
- Northampton
- Toulon
- Ospreys
- One of Leicester/Ulster/Toulouse
Tier 3:
- One of Leicester/Ulster/Toulouse
- One of Leicester/Ulster/Toulouse
- Exeter Chiefs
- Racing Metro
- Leinster
Tier 4:
- Wasps
- Oyonnax
- Scarlets
- Benetton Treviso
- Bordeaux-Begles
The draw will take place at 13:15 tomorrow(17/06/15) beginning with the Challenge Cup draw, immediately followed by the Champions Cup draw and will be live on epcrugby.com, Sky Sports News, btsport.com and beIN sports.
Quotes taken from EPCR website:
(http://www.epcrugby.com/europeanrugbychampionscup/news/30995.php#.VYAduFVViko)
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