By Message Board Monitor
June 16 2005

With the HC Draw having been made in Cardiff late on Tuesday morning, the 6 qualified English clubs now know their travel destinations under the heading "Long Weekends in Europe in Winter". A quick trip around the message boards has seen some varied reactions.

The reactions across the Sportnetwork message boards have been wide and varied, as I guess was to be expected. Some are deliriously happy with the draw, some are overjoyed that they will be visiting their favourite European ground again and no-one seems to even want to contemplate the prospect that they may not get out of their group!

The most popular theme seems to be "pleased we're not in pools 3 or 6" and "wow, I wish we were Leeds - what a draw they've got!", with the classic "pool of death" epithet given to both pools 3 and 6 in equal measure. Overall, Sarries' pool 4 seems to be received quite well, with one Waspie even suggesting that we could qualify as a "best runner up"! Time will tell, but here's a selection of the reaction from the message boards:

Bath - grouped with Glasgow, Leinster (again) and Bourgoin (again)
All appear to like the thought of another weekend to Dublin (no shock there then!), "quite hopeful" would appear to be the best description of the messages on there!
"Chance for revenge on Leinster"
"Seem to recall we thought last year was an easy draw - beat Leinster at home and we'll be home and hosed....."

Leeds - grouped with Cardiff Blues, Perpignan and Calvisano
The happiest message board out of the lot! All of them think they have a great chance of getting into the quarter finals, generating comments such as
"Excellent qualification chance"
"Can't think of a much better draw than that"
And an honourary mention of "pool 6 - the pool of death"

Leicester - grouped with Stade Francais, Ospreys and Clermont Auvernge
Ok, let's be honest, if we'd been in instead of the Tiggers then we'd be saying "wow, what a group, we'll never get out of that one". The Tiggers fans seem to be pretty philosophical about the draw, with there being just as many positive as negative postings.
"I won't be counting any chickens with the Tigers in a pretty transitional stage next season"
"Unless we can overcome our French jinx we'll be out in the pools"
"NO easy matches, but none impossible"
And the most dismissive comment re pool 4 comes from here too - "Biarritz look like they have the easiest job to me!" Well, you would say that ;o)

Wasps - grouped with Toulouse, Edinburgh Rugby and Llanelli Scarlets
The award for "Best Away Trip Venues" goes here I reckon. I mean, Toulouse and Edinburgh - what more could one want? Apologies, but I've never been to Llanelli so cannot comment on that one! But some of the Waspies don't agree - "what a dreadful draw" relating to the social aspect being either the best fishing trip ever or someone who is gutted at not getting an Italian side! On the rugby front, most are pretty positive, as would befit the current English champions.
"Group of Death" (only 1 mention so far)
"A group Wasps should progress from, but will have to fight hard to do so"
"My hope is we play TooLoose (sic) away 1st game"
"Leeds have landed on their feet" - ok, true enough.

Sale - grouped with Newport-Gwent Dragons, Castres and Munster
The Manchester branch of Saracens seem really positive and no doubt their magnificent supporters' club will swing into action to mobilise hundreds of fans to travel to Wales, France and Ireland respectively. They all seem really positive about the draw as well, with some expressing doubts about the force that is/was Munster.
"Yes it will be difficult but nothing Sale should be frightened of"
"Draw could have been a lot worse, Munster away will be hard but they are not the force they were"
"A great chance of progressing"

Saracens - grouped with Biarritz Olympique, Ulster and Treviso in case you'd forgotten
Apathy rules! Aside from memories of Ulster, the news that fbl needs a job to get to Toulouse, Lurcherous has just got a new job (congrats) and that Larry spent his stag weekend in Biarritz 2 years ago, there is precious little rugby-related comment! No-one has complained yet though, so that's good, I guess the two most relevant comments are
"I'd like to think that we'd make a better fist of a freezing Friday in December or January at Ravenhill than our buddies from the Basque country"
"Thinking optimistically, our most plausible route to the next round would be to win every game except in Biarritz and hope that either we pip them on points difference or that they trip up in Ulster"
Credit to all though, no use of the phrase "pool of death" as yet!

So that's the round-up. Keep an eye out for the actual fixture dates (as always, subject to Sky) in the next few weeks and watch out for information from the SSA on possible travel arrangements!