Heineken Cup Betting Preview

The Heineken Cup provides the highest level of rugby in Europe, arguably with the inclusion of the Six Nations Championship. The format works, the best clubs tend to prevail, and none are in any doubt that the prestige of becoming Heineken Cup Champions is the highest accolade achievable by European club sides. Six Pool winners and the two best runners up will advance to the quarterfinals, and there are sure to be some high profile casualties. Two pools in particular fit into the 'Pool of Death' category - mandatory for any competitive group based sporting event. London Wasps entered last year's event as defending champions but found themselves in a group with Leicester and Biarritz. The transpiring matches proved as entertaining as we had anticipated, but the upshot was that the team who would win the Premiership title for the third year running in 2005 would not even make the knock out stages in this competition. This time around they have the might of Toulouse, the current champions and the only team to have won the trophy on three occasions, in their quartet. The men from the Pink City have a love affair with the Heineken Cup that exceeds even that of Leicester, the only other multiple winners (twice). Llanelli are also there and their Cup pedigree is also proven. Even if they have not been firing on all cylinders as yet this term, the thought of taking a major scalp at Stradey Park is sure to raise the standards. Edinburgh complete the Pool, and they will at least be hoping to recreate their win over Toulouse from the opening game of the 2003 edition, having won five of seven in the Celtic League so far this season. Home advantage goes a long way towards success in the latter stages, and although this pool does look likely to provide two qualifiers, trying to pick between Wasps and Toulouse as group winners is a mightily difficult task. The winner will probably be at home in the quarterfinals, whilst the second placed team certainly will not. As such we feel it makes sense to leave both of these powerhouses out of the betting verdict. The French clubs are certainly the ones to beat, and seven of the last twelve semi finalists have been from France. Along with Toulouse, the other two traditional heavyweights are Biarritz and Stade Francais, and both will be confident of going all the way to the title, to be decided at the Millennium Stadium next May. Biarritz were superb last year to beat Wasps and Leicester to win their pool, and were unfortunate to have to play a supposedly neutral semi final against Stade Francais, in the home town of the opposition, Paris. They lost 17-20, but had a right to feel hard done by with a couple of late decisions unfairly going against them. Their Pool is an interesting one. Saracens (66/1) are back in the tournament after five years away, and so should perhaps be expected to struggle. However, if they can return to their stoic defence produced in the second half of the last campaign, and neglect the free flowing kamikaze approach seen too often so far this year, the Watford based club will not be easy to break down. Ulster (66/1) are also there, and although they have been weaker than the other two Irish Provinces in recent seasons, the 1999 Champions have had a blistering start to this season and sit on top of the Celtic League with five wins from six. Italian club Treviso are capable of an upset along the way, but cannot be expected to feature in the knock out stages. Despite the merits of these teams, we expect Biarritz to conquer each of them at home and probably two of them away from home also. The first game at Saracens will be a big test but a victory at Vicarage Road is probable, and would set them up very nicely for the rest of the tournament. Serge Betsen is injured for the time being, but the likes of Imanol Harinoroduquy and Thomas Lievremont ensure the back row is far from weak, and behind the scrum Damien Traille, Dmitri Yachvili and Nicolas Brusque are all fully fledged and regular internationals, and amongst the very best in their positions on the planet. 5/1 is the best price to be had, and the current French champions are worth taking at this mark to win the trophy. The French clubs benefit from having no salary cap in place, and this has allowed the top recruit very strong squads that are the envy of the other countries. The Big three already mentioned are the leaders in this respect, but a team we feel is worthy of some each way support is Perpignan. In the French Championship they are in second place and have lost just twice, on the road in Biarritz and Toulouse, and at their Stade Aime Giral home are virtually unbeatable. Pool 2 is a weak one too, with Leeds playing poorly, and Calvisano and Cardiff very unlikely to hinder a dominant Pool topping for the French, even if the latter do have Jonah Lomu joining from December. This will allow a home quarterfinal, a game we would fancy Perpignan to win, whoever the opposition may be. The Basques do not have the same level of superstars of Stade, Toulouse or Biarritz, but they have a familiar squad packed with efficient talent who are more than capable of beating the very best teams in the competition. A price of 12/1 is long enough to tempt us into an each way selection. Leicester always deserve a mention, but without Martin Johnson and Neil Back, are definitely susceptible to more off days than previously. They have another pool of death to contend with too, with The Ospreys the best that Wales has to offer, Stade Francais on top of the league in France (having easily beaten Toulouse 29-15 in front of 80,000 fans last weekend) and the extra French club Clermont Auvergne sure to participate fiercely. Perhaps the English club with the best prospects is Sale (18/1); flying high in the Guinness Premiership and with Phillippe Saint-Andre at the helm they have developed and signed some very strong forward players, including some fantastic French talent. And their backline may be mainly English, but it still has a French slant, and has as much flair as any in the tournament with Charlie Hodgson, Mark Cueto and Jason Robinson the most high profile members in a stellar line up. One thing they lack though is a home fortress, and clubs will not fear facing the Stockport crowd at Edgley Park. Biarritz produced a menacing display to beat them there in a crucial game two years ago, and Castres (50/1), Munster (20/1) and Newport-Gwent Dragons (125/1) are all tasty outfits. Away wins against any of these clubs will be hard to come by, and they are not averse to the odd slip up at home either. Looking to Ireland, and the three Provinces currently occupy three of the top four places in the Celtic League. Ulster have only been beaten by Leinster, whilst Munster have also only been defeated once. Leinster have been very unpredictable but are the shortest of the three at around 18/1. The best value would look to be Ulster who have a chance of getting through their pool, have been flying in the Celtic League and are the only one of the three to have been Champions before. 66/1 does look long compared to the other two, but we still can't see them making the final, the only result good enough to record an each way payout.