Glasgow Warriors have been drawn against Saracens, Biarritz and Viadana in the pool stages of next season’s Heineken Cup.
Warriors head coach Sean Lineen said: “There are no easy pools in the Heineken Cup and we have been looking forward to it, no matter who we were going to be drawn against. We now know Saracens pretty well but that works both ways of course. Biarritz will be a massive challenge and Viadana are an exciting prospect.”
The Warriors have faced Guinness Premiership side Saracens three times already in the past season, having been pool-mates with them in the European Challenge Cup and subsequently drawn against them in the knock out stages of the competition. Glasgow twice finished within one score of the Sarries in both the away matches and drew with them in their home game.
French club Biarritz made the trip to Scotland last season as they were in the same Heineken Cup pool as Border Reivers, finishing top of the pool ahead of Northampton Saints and Overmach Parma.
Italian side Viadana will be making their first appearance in the top flight competition since season 2002-03, having played in the Challenge Cup and Shield competition in the intervening years.
Glasgow last featured in the competition in season 2005-06 and notched up some respectable results including an impressive 50-35 home win over French outfit Bourgoin and finishing within one score of Guinness Premiership side Bath away at ‘The Rec’.
The Heineken Cup will kick off on the weekend of 9/10/11 November. The 2006-07 final saw London Wasps beat Leicester Tigers 25-9 at Twickenham in May.
HEINEKEN CUP POOLS 2007 / 2008
POOL 1:Benetton Treviso; London Irish; Perpignan; Newport Gwent Dragons
POOL 2:Ospreys; Gloucester Rugby; Bourgoin; Ulster Rugby
POOL 3:Stade Francais Paris; Bristol Rugby; Cardiff Blues; Harlequins
POOL 4:Glasgow Warriors; Saracens; Biarritz Olympique Pays Basque; Viadana
POOL 5:London Wasps; ASM Clermont Auvergne; Llanelli Scarlets; Munster
POOL 6:Leinster; Leicester Tigers; Toulouse; Edinburgh Rugby
ROUND 1: 9 / 10 / 11 November, 2007
ROUND 2: 16 / 17 / 18 November, 2007
ROUND 3: 7 / 8 / 9 December, 2007
ROUND 4: 14 / 15 / 16 December, 2007
ROUND 5: 11 / 12 / 13 January, 2008
ROUND 6: 18 / 19 / 20 January, 2008
QUARTER-FINALS: 4 / 5 / 6 April, 2008
SEMI-FINALS: 25 / 26 / 27 April, 2008

This article was posted on 20-Jun-2007, 22:38 by Hugh Barrow.