By Jason Harris
June 26 2002

Saracens have, once again, drawn Dinamo Bucuresti in European competiton. The newly-revised Parker Pen Challenge Cup will see the men in Black return to the Romanian capital in the autumn. Sarries came away from Bucharest last season with a convincing 75-12 win over the Romanian double winners and will hope that they can repeat this performance when they go back to this happy hunting ground in October.

The first round winnners will continue in the Cup while the losers will go up against one another in the (confusingly named, it must be said) Parker Pen Shield competition. Should Sarries get through this first round test, there is a possibility of returning to Colomiers, the side they played in 1999-2000 if they beat their Itallian opponents L'Aquila.

In order to get to the final, Sarries (if they get through the first two rounds) will have to square up to one from Newcastle, Grenoble, Treviso or Castres in the quarter finals, accoding to the draw matrix on the ERC website.

If they get that far and win, the semi finals will see the Men in Black meet the top side in a quarter of the draw feturing seeded teams Scottish Boders, Bath, Bridgend and Montauban.

Should Sarries go all the way to the final, one the three other English seeded sides; Leeds, Wasps and Harlequins, could await them. But that is many months and at least 6 games away.

As in previous seasons, winners of the Challenge Cup (until this year the Shield) will gain automatic entry into the 2003-04 Heineken Cup.

The full draw:

First leg: 11/12/13 October Second leg:18/19/20 October
Grenoble v Newcastle Falcons
Rugby Treviso v Castres Olympique

Pol Rugby L'Aquila v Colomiers
Dinamo Bucaresti v Saracens

Ebbw Vale v Montauban
Madrid 2012 v Scottish Borders

G.R.A.N. Rugby Parma v Bath Rugby
Pau v Bridgend

Parma Rugby v London Wasps
La Moraleja Alcobendas v Bordeaux-Begles

Caerphilly v NEC Harlequins
Rugby Rovigo v Stade Francais

Rugby Silea v RC Narbonne
Mont de Marsan v Connacht

Petrarca Padova v Leeds Tykes
Rugby Roma v Pontypridd